Anniversary? My Hope For Our Country

I'd like to take a moment to reflect on the ten year "anniversary" of 9/11.


First of all, kudos to you the reader for subjecting yourself to yet another article written about 9/11. As if you hadn't already been beaten over the head with 9/11's significance nearly every day for the last ten years. Second of all, I thought it was understood that while technically correct, the term "anniversary" was reserved for something positive? I don't know about you, but I'm of the opinion that NOTHING positive came out of 9/11, during and since. There have only been degrees of "negative", which is why I'm writing this post in the first place.


9/11/2001 is more sad to me now, than it was ten years ago. Why do I feel that way? I've been asking myself that question for quite some time, and I've reached a few different answers in a few different paths.


When 9/11 first happened, I can honestly say, while absolutely mortified by the tragic and senseless loss of life, I wasn't afraid. I was not scared of what could happen the next time I got on a plane. I was not afraid of terrorists any more so than I already was. I was also completely confident that we would bring those responsible for this murder-filled act of war, to justice. Why did I not feel the fear so many claimed to have felt? One simple reason :

• We were officially UNIFIED

Immediately following 9/11 the United States was never more unified, amicable, and in-concert, arguably since World War II. We all collectively knew how devastating this day was. We all knew that the time for political discourse, religious differences, and racial tensions among other issues, were not what mattered anymore. Human Life, American Lives, and the preservation of Liberty was the priority, first and foremost.


It was that sense of collective benevolence, and singular sense of purpose that fueled my lack of fear. In the ten years since that time however, I have born witness to this country collectively losing it's mind, while showing vitriolic amounts of discord, disaffection, hostility, and even more shockingly, hatred for it's own fellow citizens. In the ten years since we've seen a ton of disconcerting changes. Some of the highlights include:

• A completely unjust war initiated by the same leaders we trusted in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, who also promised we were starting this unjust war for just reasons.
• Multiple economic collapses and corporate fraud taking full advantage of the ever swiftly eradicating and perpetually unemployed/under-employed middle-class citizens.
• An increasingly mutated sense of patriotism, laced with tribalistic, uber-Christian fueled jingoism stating "Either you're with us, or you're with the terrorists" and "Jesus chose America to destroy Non-Believers and Brown People" which flirts dangerously close to fascism.
• Multiple random shootings from our citizens, AT our fellow citizens i.e. Seung-Hui Cho, John Allen Muhammad, and Jared Lee Loughner to name a few.

I mention these things not to take sides. Far From It. I'm not on the side of democrat, republican, or any silly ass Tea Bag nonsense (especially the Tea Baggers). I mention these things as marking points, which serve as seminal moments of how we as a nation went from Unified, to being never more divided in my lifetime post 9/11. I'm not exactly sure, and I'm positive everyone has multiple theories on how it happened, but it definitely DID happen, and I'm sickened as a result of it. I look at our country now, and for the first time ever, I can say I am disappointed and sad at how off-message we've become. I am so melancholy at how much we have grown to hate each other.

When Osama Bin Laden was finally killed this past May, it became crystal clear how deep the divisions in the country had become in the past ten years. Bin Laden's death was almost an "also-ran" in terms of people's reaction. The media certainly tried their best to stir up the feelings of triumph, but it largely didn't work. Most people viewed Bin Laden's death as the equivalent of finally buying that extension cord you've been meaning to purchase. Sort of an "Oh Yeah, I've been MEANING to take care of that", which is so offensive, given the totality of damage Bin Laden caused. Yet his death was not nearly as satisfying as say if it happened in April of 2002.

I'm not saying it wasn't important that we kill Bin Laden. Quite the opposite. His death was a death that should be celebrated by any reasonable person, and that's the point. There was no catharsis from his death despite the fact that Bin Laden is the very man who's acts were celebrating the "Anniversary" of!

Which brings me to my final point. If we insist on celebrating this "anniversary" of the one of the darkest days our country has ever seen, it is my hope that we all collectively realize how much we've grown to hate each other since that fateful day. I hope we realize that hating each other is a pointless way to go through life, and that the only way our country is going to truly evolve is to understand that the true meanings of "tolerance", "forgiveness", and "acceptance" are not just buzz words, but keys to growth.

I want to believe that this country will realize how much we should value each other, despite our differences. I want to believe our country can be as unified as we were on 9/11 without senseless tragedy having to play a role in our unification.

Whether that will actually happen, will be up to us.