Tag: 9/11

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Gratitudes 2018, Day 48

I starting writing this earlier today and it didn’t feel like anything resembling a list of gratitudes. Apparently, thinking about 9/11 can have that effect on me… It ended up being kind of a “wish list” at the end, but it took some work to get there. (Note: there are some naughty words in here, so if you have delicate sensibilities, you may want to put on some protective eyewear before reading any further.)

I’ve forgotten a lot about the year 2001, but I remember where I was on 9/11. I was reading in the lunchroom at school when I looked up and saw a group of people staring at a TV up on the wall. I walked over there just in time to see the second plane hit the World Trade Center and left to go to class just as the first tower started to collapse.

People saw it as a national tragedy and I think it unified the country in a way. It gave us something we could look at and say, “That was bad.” Everyone had that and we all fit inside one “That was bad” circle of a Venn diagram. And so that’s my one gratitude for today:

  1. Unity.

Unfortunately, it’s a better gratitude for 2001 than 2018. There’s still a great deal of unity—maybe even more now—but I recommend you avoid applying Venn diagrams unless you’re a big fan of circles that don’t touch.

I’d like to mention here that I want to see ZERO comments pointing fingers or placing blame on the current state of the country. It doesn’t matter how we got here. The point is that we’re here.

We may never see that overall sentiment of “That was bad” again. Our society has become so fragmented and compartmentalized and separated that if one group of people thinks, “That was bad”, you’ll find another group that thinks, “Yaaaaay!”

“They believe something or they have something or they are something that I don’t like, so fuck ’em.”

And that kind of sentiment has become so widespread, it’s sickening. There was a time when a car driving into a crowd of people was “That was bad” by default. Now if it’s a crowd of protesters, “Good! They deserved it! The car should have hit and killed more of them!”

HOW IS THAT OKAY?!?!

But it is. All kinds of people from all sorts of different circles are embracing it. If you don’t like someone, we’ve gone waaaaay beyond “I’m not going to invite them to my birthday party.” Now it’s “They’re not like me, so fuck ’em.”

When this stuff started bouncing around in my head, I thought about writing “You’re not like me”, but we don’t even have that anymore. It’s not “you and me”, it’s “us and them.” So many people just love staying in their circles and have no problems sitting back and blaming people on the outside for pretty much anything they don’t like.

I wish I had an answer. I wish I had an idea of how to fix things. I wish I had a gigantic Band-Aid that I could put over the entire country and all our problems would eventually scab over, then fall off and we’d be healed. Unfortunately, they don’t make Band-Aids that big. And even if they did, a lot of us (myself included) have trouble not picking scabs before the wound is fully healed.

This is as far as I got until reading something at work and the author used the word “empathy.” We could definitely use a lot more of that. So I looked back at what I wrote and thought, “What are some ways to combat this mindset that so many people have? What can people do for themselves that’ll help ease their frustrations? How can we heal the world, make it a better place for you and for me and the entire human race?” (No, I honestly have no idea why that song popped into my head.) So here’s my wish list for everyone:

  1. Empathy

  2. Compassion

  3. Listening

  4. Understanding

  5. Acceptance

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Who owns the day?

It’s the 5th anniversary of 9/11. What was once another day of another week of another month of another year is now a day of tragedy, of patriotism, of loss, of remembrance. But who owns it? When circling September 11th on your calendar, who belongs in that circle? It used to be people’s birthdays and anniversaries, new jobs and retirements, haircuts and doctor’s appointments. Now who do we think of? Now who owns the day?

Is it the terrorists? 9/11 has been burned into our minds. Every year, we feel the loss of the World Trade Center all over again. Seeing videos from five years past of fireballs erupting through the buildings on impact still chills me to the core. And we know why it happened: because terrorists hijacked some planes on an average day, flew them into New York City and created a pair of blazing infernos. Do they sit in their homes and bunkers knowing that they caused such devastation? Knowing that it was a moral and religious victory in their eyes and a loss in ours? Knowing that they own the day?

Is it the politicians? September 11th has become the justification for countless acts of war in the last five years. The terrorists attacked us on our own soil, so we should attack them on theirs. The terrorists remained anonymous until they hijacked the planes, so we should give up some of our freedoms to ensure that terrorists can never remain anonymous again. There are many instances when people have wanted to act, but had they done so, “the terrorists have won.” Do the politicians sit in their offices knowing that they can distract people through patriotism? Knowing that it can justify terrorist-like actions of their own? Knowing that they own the day?

My personal belief is still that it belongs to the people. It may mean more than birthdays and anniversaries now, but it is still a day to think of the goodness that resides in everyone’s heart. When the towers exploded, people converged. When the towers collapsed, people stood and offered of themselves. When the towers were nothing more than a memory, people made it a day of celebration. It is a day of loss, but it is a day to know we are alive and we are one as a people. September 11th may have its own page in the history books, but that page belongs to us. We, the people of the United States of America, own the day. God bless us all.

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Light a Candle

Today marks the 4th anniversary of the destruction of the World Trade Center. That morning, I was studying in Hachey Commons at William Mitchell College of Law. I looked up and noticed a group of people staring at a television in the corner of the room, so I walked over and joined them just as the second plane hit and turned into a giant fireball. As I was turning away to go to class, the first building fell. (Ours was an “online” section, so we all had wireless Internet access for taking quizzes, downloading study materials, etc. The professor made a futile plea for all of us to pay attention for the next hour.)

Hurricane Katrina hit the gulf coast earlier this month and the resulting damage continues to climb. While surfing the Web, reading the newspaper and watching the television, we learn of horrors unimaginable to those of us who have never experienced it. A city under water, people jammed into a football stadium for safety as they run out of food and water, homes and belongings completely destroyed… a descent into chaos.

From chaos comes order. A nation, united as one to recover from these tragedies. By donating money or clothes, giving aid to people who have nothing left or simply providing moral support, we will work together and we will recover. In the face of tragedy, we are family. Brothers and sisters, I light a candle for those whom we have lost. Be safe and be well.