Elegies and fantasies
One of my Boston-area friends used to through a Pearl Harbor Party every year on or around Dec. 7. "Drop in and get bombed" (or something like that) was always the tag line. Another friend pointed out such a party might be offensive to people who lived through Pearl Harbor, which is right. But since no one alive during Pearl Harbor was ever invited to the party, my friend carried on until his thirties and his children put an end to Pearl Harbor.
I mention this because it's Sept. 11 again, and once again social media is ablaze with the imperative to "never forget" and to do this, think that, and believe the other to propitiate the souls of everyone lost that day, 12 years ago. The thing is, I want to forget. I want very, very badly for 9/11 to have never happened and for the world, where 9/11s happen every day or even are possible, to change. I don't think remembering and waving a flag will get us there.
Maybe, instead of focusing on what happened on 9/11, we can think about the causes and the systems that create the impetus for such acts and correct them. And maybe then we can live in a world where 9/11s were "the bad old days" and people can live in peace and harmony.
I mention this because it's Sept. 11 again, and once again social media is ablaze with the imperative to "never forget" and to do this, think that, and believe the other to propitiate the souls of everyone lost that day, 12 years ago. The thing is, I want to forget. I want very, very badly for 9/11 to have never happened and for the world, where 9/11s happen every day or even are possible, to change. I don't think remembering and waving a flag will get us there.
Maybe, instead of focusing on what happened on 9/11, we can think about the causes and the systems that create the impetus for such acts and correct them. And maybe then we can live in a world where 9/11s were "the bad old days" and people can live in peace and harmony.