We are approaching the anniversary of 9/11

The Twin Towers are down six years now and many people
Are already tired hearing about it; they are tired hearing about the death and destruction.
It seems that remorse and compassion and understanding may have run their course at least for some of the survivors….
Their expressed rationale: It didn’t touch them or they want to move on.

It was interesting to read the comments of those who want to put this horrific experience behind them. And I suppose some had legitimate reasons. They felt it ws time to look forwards; not backwards. It was time to be positive; not negative. Some felt that we have already spent much too much time dwelling on a disaster.

But can we put this aside so easily? And, more importantly, should we?

I don’t think we can as long as the specter of terrorism hangs over our head; nor do I believe we should want to; nor does it matter where you live or whether you had a personal friend or a relative lost that day…

….The WTC should remain firmly engraved on our consciousness as a reminder of many things. One of them, is our egocentricity that allowed us to ignore all of the vital signs; the belief that nothing can touch us. That we were invulnerable!

The “puddle” defense is long ended now; we are all vulnerable and we see just how naïve our belief system was that the ocean that divides us would keep us safe; no, all it did was reinforce our interest in not getting involved in the problems of the rest of the world.

Now, we have “grayed.” We have a better understanding of what the people of Europe had to contend with; we have had to face our own Battle of Britain and stood in the ramparts or underground wondering whether there would be a tomorrow.

Some of us took pride in the steel of our brethren overseas; many moved on with their own lives and didn’t concern themselves. But that is all over now. We are all brothers in a war against a form of madness that seems to target the “innocents” and we had better not forget the lessons of 9/11 now or forever.

Les Aaron

Note: Les is the author of A Blueprint for Winning: Taking Back the White House 2008 available from Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.
Les, an editor for Democracy Chronicle helped chronicle the destruction of the WTC for the magazine through a series of essays.