Nine-Eleven: The Aftermath

Nine-Eleven Memorial In Lower Manhattan

For the past few months, and especially the past week, the term Nine-Eleven has been on most people’s lips and nearly everyone’s mind. I tried desperately to avoid dwelling on this. I failed.

I am beset by the images of ten years ago seared into my mind. I turned the TV on in my Oakland apartment to catch the weather. It took a while to understand the horror I was witnessing. No one in our office accomplished much work that day. Life, as we knew it, came to a standstill. I saw people jumping from the smoking, crumbling towers to escape fiery deaths; mayhem in the streets of New York City as citizens tried to outrun stifling, toxic clouds; hopeful people holding pictures of loved ones still lost; and the face of Mohammed Atta.

There are other unpleasant images I am desperate to banish, like ‘America’s Mayor’ Rudy Giuliani declaring, “Bernie, thank God George Bush is our president!”, or our smug POTUS declaring into his bullhorn that those who “knocked down” the towers would “hear from us.” Knocked down? How folksy! The public was inundated with color-coded terror alerts, but encouraged to spend, spend, spend! God forbid we allow capitalism and consumerism to suffer because of this tragedy. No! We must show the terrorists that no matter what they do, they will not curtail our latte consumption and shopping sprees. So, off we scurried to Starbucks and Macy’s to do our patriotic duty.

As the months following Nine-Eleven rolled by, everyone tried to find ways to begin the healing of our national psyche. The Commander-In-Chief soon sounded the call for revenge, proclaiming, “either you’re with us, or you’re with the terrorists.” (I, for one, was never with the terrorists; nor was I with him.) So began the case for war. Little more than one year later, George W. Bush took to the campaign trail to drum up support for the invasion of Iraq. The world responded with anti-war marches and rallies attended by unprecedented numbers of protesters. I was one of them. We were ignored. Bush got his way, and delivered ‘shock and awe’ to the city of Baghdad. Some believe this was essentially terrorism by another name.

Ten years later there are more painful images attached to the memory of Nine-Eleven. I cannot forget the faces of our young men and women dispatched to Iraq and Afghanistan, some for multiple tours-of-duty, who paid the ultimate price fighting an unnecessary and illegal war. Nor can I forget the pictures of death, despair, and sorrow as Iraqi and Afghani civilians mourned the loss of their innocents. US and coalition forces have lost nearly 5,000 valiant soldiers in Iraq, and nearly 3,000 in Afghanistan. Iraqi and Afghani casualties run into tens of thousands. We have not even begun to assess the gargantuan cost of caring for our soldiers who return physically and emotionally maimed by the horrors of these wars.

Ten years later, the US still siphons money we cannot afford into this bottomless pit, while our economy crumbles here at home. We cannot fund upkeep of our public schools, nor can we provide healthcare for our citizens, but we can afford nation building in other countries. We have not asked ourselves what we can do differently. We have not taken the opportunity to talk about tolerance and engage in civil discourse with our brothers and sisters around the world. And now there’s talk of another war!

Ten years later, our nation is still suffering in the aftermath of Nine-Eleven. We should never forget the devastation of those horrific attacks. We should always commemorate the deaths of nearly 3,000 innocents who lost their lives on that day. We should pray that their loved ones find some solace in their memories, and wish them peace. We should also remember who is responsible for the ongoing carnage of two senseless wars. We should seek, and speak, the truth.