LOOKING BACK OVER THE PAST TEN YEARS

The tenth anniversary of September 11, 2001 passed yesterday. It is hard to believe that ten years has passed. I’m sure the families of those tragically killed feel the loss of their loved ones as acutely today as they did then. And yet, life goes on. That is the real pain of those who survive. They do go on, whether they want to or not.

Are we better off today then back on that fateful day? Probably not. Thousands of young men and women are still dying trying to get accountability on the two war fronts, and many more hundreds of thousands wounded. Now, Congress and the American public have lost the stomach for a conflict they embraced so readily ten years ago. So, I guess we are done with evening the score and getting revenge for that horrible act. And yet, credible threats are still uncovered and weapons (including guns and knives) still  manage to get through TSA security at the airport.  We have tortured and killed detainees and prisoners and thousands of Americans have been illegally profiled in the interim.

The events of Oklahoma City have faded in the collective memory of the American public, which I am sure frustrates their community to no end. Will 9/11 fade one day from the collective memory? We don’t know the answer to that yet. The real question for me is whether our democracy and the freedoms it is supposed to protect will recover from our efforts to get revenge and to convince ourselves that we have obtained security from terrorism, a goal which can never actually be achieved.

… just something I was thinking about …