And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
Being a New Yorker, 9/11/01 will always remain etched in my memory. The friend I lost that day, my cousin's best friend whom he lost that day, and the thousands of others -- in New York, Washington, D.C., and a lonely field in Pennsylvania. (RIP Kevin and Laurence!) I remember, and always will remember, the sheer horror of that day, and also the way people, communities, a nation, came together in our shared shock and grief.
What I also remember was how, after a while, that shock and grief turned, twisted. In the name of revenge we went to war against an enemy who, while despicable, was little more than a scapegoat. OBL's aim wasn't just to kill on American soil, it was to sow fear, distrust, and have us destroy ourselves from the inside. Looking at the current economy and debt, the fact that more than eight years later we still have active troops in two countries fighting two wars, we did a pretty good job on that front.
I mourn for those we've lost - the innocent victims on 9/11 itself, the thousands of military men and women, contractors, and journalists who've lost their lives in the intervening years, and the tens of thousands and more of innocent civilians in two nations who perished for reasons as innocuous as geography, and being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Ten years.
It's a good thing, I think, to look back and reflect. To mourn. But even more, it's time to turn toward the future. To take the hard, painful lessons we've learned and move forward. Not just to say "Never Again!" but rather to honor those that have died by becoming better people, a better nation. In the current political climate, that's kind of a pipe dream, but it's a wish, a hope, nonetheless. I'm tired of politicians who put politics and personal agendas before the people they were elected to represent. I'm tired of the fear-mongering, of using religion -- twisting and even ignoring its tenets -- to propagate hatred and ostracism. Of blatant hypocrisy and mind-boggling ignorance. It offends me both as a person and as a citizen. Some days it seems we've learned nothing.
So. Ten years. We can -- and should! -- remember, but we can't change the past. The question I'm thinking about most today is where will we be -- both personally and as a nation -- ten years from now? Only time will tell.
What I also remember was how, after a while, that shock and grief turned, twisted. In the name of revenge we went to war against an enemy who, while despicable, was little more than a scapegoat. OBL's aim wasn't just to kill on American soil, it was to sow fear, distrust, and have us destroy ourselves from the inside. Looking at the current economy and debt, the fact that more than eight years later we still have active troops in two countries fighting two wars, we did a pretty good job on that front.
I mourn for those we've lost - the innocent victims on 9/11 itself, the thousands of military men and women, contractors, and journalists who've lost their lives in the intervening years, and the tens of thousands and more of innocent civilians in two nations who perished for reasons as innocuous as geography, and being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Ten years.
It's a good thing, I think, to look back and reflect. To mourn. But even more, it's time to turn toward the future. To take the hard, painful lessons we've learned and move forward. Not just to say "Never Again!" but rather to honor those that have died by becoming better people, a better nation. In the current political climate, that's kind of a pipe dream, but it's a wish, a hope, nonetheless. I'm tired of politicians who put politics and personal agendas before the people they were elected to represent. I'm tired of the fear-mongering, of using religion -- twisting and even ignoring its tenets -- to propagate hatred and ostracism. Of blatant hypocrisy and mind-boggling ignorance. It offends me both as a person and as a citizen. Some days it seems we've learned nothing.
So. Ten years. We can -- and should! -- remember, but we can't change the past. The question I'm thinking about most today is where will we be -- both personally and as a nation -- ten years from now? Only time will tell.