Reliving 9/11 for The First Time

Watching all the network specials and tributes to 9/11 proved something very powerful to me: I’ll never be “over it.” I thought I was. I thought I could look back on the event more objectively and easily critique the errors we made following that awful day. But to even attempt to do so means lying to myself.

Earlier this month, for the first time in almost 10 years I watched The Towers fall. I listened to the tales of widows, friends, and comrades as they recounted that day. I saw footage I’d never seen of firefighters running into the towers as others staggered out, and once again remembered the virtues of courage, sacrifice, and what it truly means to be a hero. And I cried. Just as hard as I had that day, maybe even more so because of what we’ve been through and where we are as a nation 10 years later.

All the pain, all the frustration, all the hatred for those that did this to our nation broke out again. I truly remembered what I felt that day. But there was more. I can see how that day changed me, this country, and the world forever. It’s sad to think of how 9/11 united us, and the fall out has divided us, possibly more so than anytime since the Civil War.

It is always difficult, if not impossible, to vanquish fear and emotion and look at such an event rationally in the immediate aftermath. It is easy now to realize the mistakes our leaders made, but the 10th anniversary has allowed me to absolve some of those sins. It doesn’t necessarily justify all the actions of the past 10 years by both the Bush and Obama administrations, but it puts them in context.

As president, your number one goal should be to protect the American people. People that believe Bush didn’t feel the pain of those 2,977 deaths, or the deaths of the Soldiers he put in harms way in the War on Terror are deluding themselves. The same as those that think Pres. Obama doesn’t care about the troops that have died in the past three years are nimwits. Pres. Obama has expanded the war into Pakistan, strengthened the Patriot Act, and kept Guantanamo open because he cares, and he never wants anything like 9/11 to happen again.

And I hope we have learned something else: another 9/11 will happen someday, Fortress America is no more. We need to adopt two traits: that of the “stiff-upper lip” from the British, and taking the long view from the Chinese. The “stiff-upper lip” means continuing on in the face of adversity, not that we Americans don’t, but we are prone to hysterics and our news media constantly tries to scare us with one deadly problem or another.

We must realize that no person or group can destroy our country as long as we perceive and heed FDR’s warning: “the only thing to fear is fear itself.”

The other trait, taking the long view, is the more difficult of the two. In the internet age everything is immediate. We want information NOW. We want a reaction NOW. Sometimes we need to take a step back from events so we can sort out our emotions and act rationally. Sometimes we need to forgo immediate vengeance in order to make the best decision for the future of our well-being. This not only goes for the events after 9/11, but to the predicaments we find ourselves in now. Rather than kick the can down the road, or do what looks good for re-election without solving, much less dealing with our problems, we need to do what is in the best long-term interest for this country, even if it means short term pain. Would you have preferred that the U.S. had not gotten involved so deeply in Afghanistan, had not gone into Iraq, had not mortgaged the future, bought “stuff” in order to cover up our pain, and instead systematically struck Al-Qaeda, endured a bit of higher taxes and no insane housing boom in order to have the surplus back and be in a position to pay for Social Security and MediCare?

I hope that the 10th anniversary has given you time to reflect on everything that has happened. I hope it made you remember how you felt, and that it explains why our leaders have done what they have on during the War on Terror. I hope that out future leaders will learn not to make the same mistakes we made to avenge ourselves, namely becoming too much like those that hurt us. And I hope it helps us to remember to love our neighbors again. We’re all in this together and we need each other to succeed. United we stand, divided we fall is as true as ever.