Inspired by Michele's Voices project, I intend to post tomorrow about my own take on the 9/11 two year anniversary. Actually, I intend to post it this evening.
It's maddening, really, to hear people say that America should "get over" 9/11, as if that horrendous event was nothing more than a stubbed toe on the way to the refridgerator. I mean, I agree that, as a nation, we should move on, but we should never "get over" what happened that day.
We should be outraged, pissed, stunned, saddened, anguished, resolute and solemn all at the same time every time we see a picture of the crumbled towers or see footage of that doomed second aircraft slicing through the second tower.
That day should forever serve as a microcosm of America's place in the world. During one horrifying morning, America looked up to see an explosion of hate threatening to tear apart the very fabric of Democracy. Many of us realized, for the first time, that our great nation is reviled by sick fundamentalist groups who are at their happiest when they're miserable. The word "freedom" rings hollow for them. We should never forget that.
I have a picture saved on my computer at home. It's hidden, difficult to find, because normally I don't want to find it. But, sometimes, when I need a reminder of the importance of the drastically revamped American foreign policy of pre-emptive warfare, I wind my way back to that picture: a picture of a man, falling head first from one of those ill-fated towers, a man who, until that ugly morning, had hopes and dreams not unlike the hopes and dreams of all of us. He simply wanted to live. But he wouldn't. Not that day. That day he had to jump to escape the searing heat and suffocating smoke. Get over that? No fucking way.
Posted by Ryan at September 10, 2003 12:55 PM
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