Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Better Than We Were Before


I've been thinking a lot today.

It's 9/11, so I think a lot of other people have been thinking a lot today, too. 

We've been thinking about the lives lost.  Karen over at Baby Sideburns posted a list of the fallen, in its entirety, from Gordon M. Aamonth, Jr. to Kristin Gould White.  (You can see that haunting list in full here)  We've been thinking about the friends, families and loved ones left behind.  We've been thinking about the heroes who dealt with the aftermath, like the police, firefighters, and paramedics--some of whom were quite surprising.   We've been thinking about the heroes who finally found the man who was responsible for all of this.

But I've been thinking about something else.

Does anyone else remember how together we were, right after?  How united we were, as a country.  People attended candlelight vigils for people they didn't even know.  We hugged each other in the streets.  We stuck up for strangers.  We committed thousands of random acts of kindness because in the throes of that tragedy we felt so connected to each other we couldn't even stand it. 

It makes me terribly, terribly sad. 

Because we lost that, somewhere along the way.  We are a country more divided than ever.  We've managed to become more isolated from other human beings than we ever thought possible.  The blatant anti-Muslim racism I have witnessed just today makes me physically sick to my stomach, and it's only ten in the morning.

What happened to us?

Today, if you didn't know already, there is going to be a Thousand Muslim March on Washington.  You've probably also heard about the some 800,000 bikers on their way to Washington to confront them.  Am I the only one who thinks this is a bad idea?  Am I the only one having visions of riots in the streets?

Let me make this painfully clear--I am not condoning or supporting the march.  At least, not today.  While I do think that Muslim Americans have the right (as African Americans did in the 1960's, in case we've all forgotten) to march on Washington and protest the discrimination they're facing, I don't believe they should do it today.  Today should be about remembrance and grieving, not about politics.
How did we go from holding hands in the streets, lighting candles for the fallen, to rioting in the capital, which I truly fear we'll see by the end of the day?  I fear for my children, and their children.  I honestly do.  If this is what we've come to, only twelve years after the attacks, where will we be fifty years after?  Or a hundred?  How much hatred are we setting ourselves up for?

I'm sure I'm going to catch a lot of flack for the previous three paragraphs of this post.  Some people who read it will call me un-American, unpatriotic, a left-wing liberal nut, and a lot worse things that I won't put in print. But I didn't start this blog to keep my mouth shut, so I'm going to say the hard things that no one else is saying.

And I'm hoping, that for as many people hate my post today, there will be an equal number who sit down and really think about it.  Here's what I want you to think about.  When, fifty years from now, your grandchildren ask you how you were affected by 9/11, what will you have to say to them?  Will you tell them that the attacks made you a better person?  That you were kinder to strangers; that you valued life, any life, more, and not less; that your country came through it better than it was before?  Or will you tell them that you became bitter, and full of hate; that you became suspicious of anyone who didn't look exactly like you; that your country became unrecognizably ugly in the aftermath?

I hope, perhaps against all hope, that we can tell our grandchildren about the togetherness.  About the random acts of kindness and the hugging strangers and the everyday people who became heroes.  And I hope it won't be overshadowed by all of this ugly.

Today, in remembrance of the fallen, do something beautiful.  Buy a stranger's coffee.  Over-tip your waitress.  Write a letter to a soldier.  Let your kids have ice cream for dinner.  Do something positive and beautiful.  Honor the fallen with kindness, not with hate. 

Today, let's prove to the world and ourselves, that Americans really did come through this tragedy better than we were before.

2 comments:

  1. Now I know why I woke up way before dawn today... Thanks Wesley for this thoughtful piece.

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  2. Now I know why I woke up way before dawn today. This older blog is one I was meant to see on this day. Thanks Wesley!

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