One of the HR people today at work sent out an e-mail about doing a moment of silence and said we should never forget the events of 9/11.
It's absurd to think that anyone old enough to remember would ever forget that day. But that said, I think a lot of people would like to if they could. Everyone deals with tragedy differently. It was without question one of the saddest and scary days in my life, and the worst of it happened hundreds of miles away from me. The stories of the people that made a difference that day are fascinating to me, but I can't bring myself to spend a lot of time thinking about it every year.
The thing that I find most upsetting is the way things have gone since then. We're in a war that has nothing to do with terrorism. People think they're related anyway. The president thinks he's bigger than the Constitution. All we ever hear about is how scared we should be. Gas prices are insane. Health care is in the shitter. Social Security is in bad shape for the long term. Our financial security is in the hands of the rest of the world because of our debt. And the worst thing yet, is that no one in Washington ever bothers to ask what it is about our foreign policy that makes people want to blow our shit up. (Hint: It's not about "hating freedom.")
9/11 was a very sad day in our history. No one is ever going to forget that day, or the thousands of people who died. The way that I would most like to honor those people is to pray that the world find peace. If we stop believing that it's possible, we give up our will to avoid certain doom.
So you'd rather bow to the pressures of terrorism so we don't get attacked again? Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that what they want? Say we modify our foreign policy to fit their needs, wouldn't they get the implication that all they have to do is blow our shit up everytime they want something?
You're right about one thing, it's not about hating freedom. It's about religious fanaticism. Why do you think they're so quick to blow each other's shit up, as well? Face it, these fanatics aren't just violent towards non-Muslims, but they're also violent to those who they don't consider "Muslim enough."
I think the fact that there have been no terrorist attacks on U.S. soil since that fateful day is wonderful. I feel even better knowing that we've actually prevented a few that were in the works.
I'm not scared, nor do I feel that anyone is telling me to be scared. I'm simply taking a serious threat seriously and questioning those who aren't.
If you want to fall into the convenient and lazy thinking of good vs. evil, knock yourself out. I'm not going to get dragged into that mindset.
I'm not suggesting we bow to anything. I'm suggesting we take a hard look at what we do around the world and how it may be perceived as taking sides or being "evil" to someone else.