september 11

So that day has come upon us again.

Once again, I find myself wanting to hide and stay away from the onslaught of social media, urging me to "Never Forget", as if I could.  It certainly is not my intent to tell everyone or anyone not to commemorate this day, nor is this meant to insult the memory of anyone we lost or anyone who wishes to look back and contemplate the events of the day.  Like many other days, events, or experiences in life, this is personal to each of us and one that should be observed as one wishes.  If you believe that we should "Never Forget" and that the meaning of this day is that we should be patriotic on this day, then by all means, that is your right, and I will not try one bit to prevent anyone from doing so.

As for me, I don't want to forget, but I don't want to be awash in the tidal wave of "patriotism" that images of the towers, first responders, weeping statues of liberty and bald eagles can rain down upon me in a single day.

For three hundred and sixty-four days a year, we face a continuous torrent of hate postings calling all of us anti-american, haters, bigots, etc., simply because we have some basic disagreements over how we should be governed, over our form of government, over how we approach basic decency between us.  Much of this comes from our so called leaders and television commentators who all get way more attention than they deserve.  I admit that I am probably as much a part of that onslaught for a good many people on the right.  That being said, we come together for twenty-four hours a year because somebody else attacked us.

We don't seem to come together so much when it is a commemoration of when we attacked ourselves. Please note we do not come together April 19 every year.  What is April 19?  In case you forgot, that is the day of the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 by "one of us".  We also do not seem to go into a national catharsis every year on December 14, which is the date "one of us" shot up Sandy Hook Elementary School.  That day was not even enough to get a package of common sense gun control legislation passed.

We also do not seem to come together so much when it comes to upholding decent human rights and dignities in this country.  It is worth remembering that the atrocities that occurred on September 11, 2001 were not perpetrated by every single Muslim in the world.  It is also worth remembering that there are any number of persons in this country who are just as American as anyone else, but either look different, sound different, worship a different god than you do, love somebody you personally would not fall in love with and live a lifestyle you do not want for yourself.

On this day, and every other day, they are just as American as you are.

On this day, they hurt just as much as you do.

On this day, they remember too.

So on this day, as I search for something to say, as if I or anyone else really has to, I come back to what I wrote and posted on Facebook as the tenth anniversary of that day approached.  It seems just as valid to me today as it did then:

"i was downtown at my office four blocks from the world trade center that day. i watched the second plane hit. i watched from my office as the first tower fell, and received word that the second tower fell while in the bomb shelter of the building. the attendant at the parking lot and i brushed a couple of inches of building dust and probable human remains off my car so i could drive home. at each corner was a national guardsman with rifles pointed straight at us. i don't intend to watch all the 9/11 hullabaloo tomorrow. i would like to spend a quiet day of reflection and relaxation, while not having the day shoved down my throat. i've had enough. i hope that doesn't make me a bad person".

God bless everyone one of those who we lost on that day, and may this be the year we finally remember each other with kindness and respect the other three hundred and sixty-four days of the year.