September 11th
September 11, 2000 – who remembers? September 11, 2001 – no one had time to think about how to think about it. September 11, 2002 – was, necessarily, a reopening of horrible wounds. September 11, 2003 – passed quietly. September 11, 2004 – ?
How do you mark the anniversary of a day that that stands as the divide between two eras; between ignorance and the day after?
September 11, 2000 – who remembers? September 11, 2001 – no one had time to think about how to think about it. September 11, 2002 – was, necessarily, a reopening of horrible wounds. September 11, 2003 – passed quietly. September 11, 2004 – ?
How do you mark the anniversary of a day that that stands as the divide between two eras; between ignorance and the day after?
For the families there is no question, but for those of us who were bystanders and for those who have been called upon to serve their country since that day, September 11th is a conundrum. Part of us would like to go back to the 10th, to pretend that the deep blue skies and bright sunshine of late summer could never hold the horror the skies held that Tuesday morning. That part of us wishes that we hadn’t needed to go to war. But another part of us knows that the war had started long before, we just weren’t fighting it yet.
On the 11th, we were. Are we still?
Do we still have the righteous American understanding that the terrorists of 9-11 were bred in a swamp of bloodthirsty, totalitarian, statist, female-phobic, anti-Semitic, anti-Christian power mongers? The understanding that there were more than 19 of them? The understanding that governments, including Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and Syria, provided refuge, money, passports and more to terrorist organizations who would then murder and maim – leaving those governments with plausible deniability for the mayhem? The understanding that their war against us began long before we were ready to fight it, and if we lose heart, may continue long after we tire of fighting?
We suspect that we still do.
On September 10, 2001, America mirrored America in 1939 – we knew that there was something nasty going on out there, very far away, and we hoped it wouldn’t touch us. On September 10, 2004, Americans mirror 1942 – we know who the enemy is, how he fights, what he wants and we are prepared to deny it to him. We weren’t safer in 1942, but we were in fact better off. Ignorance is not bliss, it is ignorance.
And it deserves mention that even after D-Day and after Midway, the turning points of World War II, there were horrendous battles to fight and tens of thousands of casualties before the world had a peaceful morning. It also deserves somber and reflective mention that the week of September 11, 2004 marks the 1,000th American death in Iraq both by hostile action and by accident. We mourn the men and women who journeyed bravely into the swamp and will not return.
Their legacy must be an American and allied determination to continue draining.