My 2 Cents Worth
My 2 Cents Worth
This is not the article that would have appeared here this month. Instead, after many days of thought, I offer my commentary on the events of September 11, 2001.
Like many others, I watched in horror as events unfolded. My work schedule "allowed" me to see it all before I left for work. I reported to work in a state of turmoil, shocked and grieving at what had happened. Like many others, I monitored the Internet throughout the day, hoping for word that friends were all right.
Like many others I was at first sickened, then outraged and then sickened again as the full implications of the attack sank in. I went to work each day, but functioned in a state of disbelief. I spent hours glued to the television in hope that some survivors would be found. Like so many others, I felt hope die as days passed. There was a hollow empty feeling in the pit of my stomach, a combination of fear and grief.
I have been outraged at the idea that the freedom we cherish was used against us by foreign nationals who lived and trained on US soil. And I have listened to talk of new regulations and monitoring of e-mail and other communications in fear that we, citizens of a free land, will be asked to give up some of our freedoms in reaction to this attack. I also fear that we will do so willingly, thinking this will make us safer.
I have wondered if this is the beginning of the end or just the end of life as we have known it. If the assassination of JFK robbed a generation of their innocence, what has this event take from us? What will it take in days ahead?
Finally, I have been forced to look at my beliefs and evaluate my attitudes, not always a comfortable thing to do. I am not good at keeping my guard up. I believe that all people have value and that everyone, from whatever nation, is entitled to human dignity and that it is the obligation of their governments to provide for them. And I believe that it is the obligation of all people to show charity to those in need.
There is nothing inherently shameful about having a need and accepting charity from others to fill it until you can do so yourself. But we live in a world where a helping hand often contains strings designed to make puppets of those accepting help. That destroys human dignity and breeds terrible resentment.
More than anything else, I hope that we have learned something from all of this. We can't change history. We can't abolish hatreds that have been brewing for centuries. But we can make it harder for them to fester and breed their terrible fruit. We can apply the same rules to all nations with which we deal. We can refuse to take blame for things we have not done. But we must remember that the very open nature of our society lays us open to blame. Few things are done secretly. There is oversight and eventually all things come into the open. It leaves us open to harsh criticism from people who do not understand our way of life.
I can take the criticism. In spite of my sometimes acid comments about politics, the truth is that I wouldn't want to live under any other kind of system. Democracy doesn't always work smoothly, but it works pretty well.
Many theories have been advanced about the cause of the hatred that bred the events of September 11th. Many of the reasons pointed out seem ludicrous to me. But then my perspective is uniquely American. Maybe that is the problem? Maybe we need to study from another perspective?
Artisty
09/30/01
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