No lessons from Sept 11

I tried to stay silent on the anniversary of the terrorist attack on America this past September 11. I stayed away from the news. Each little bit of media that seeped in felt like vinegar to the scraped flesh barely grown back over an old wound. The feelings never died, but are compartmentalized like the loss of a loved one. They faded, faded, faded, until the harsh light of recollection brought them into sharp focus. What was it all for? Why did this happen? What happens now?

And a year later, I have no answers and expect none from any source. It was too big. Despite the rise in resolve that bloomed forth from the waste of that day, America still has no idea why. We chase phantoms, and our leaders distract us with tough talk and colorful warning charts. The world has changed, they tell us, as if we couldn’t grasp that already. But they hide from the truth of the situation, because they’d have to admit that they’re not too sure what happened either.

They want to call it “Patriot’s Day,” I guess because Memorial Day was taken. It would highlight the surge of love that American’s showed for their country, but, God, it would be a lie. If is faked and forced, and I know so few people understand America, what it is, what it stands for. Patriots, true patriots, would die for their country. Those poor saps that died in the collapse of the Trade Centers didn’t die for their country; they died for the cause of sick, religious fanatics.

Patriots work for their country. They sweat for their country. They die for their country. Sticking a flag on anything is not a patriotic act. Swearing allegiance to that same flag is not a patriotic act. American soldiers do not die for the flag. They die for freedom. In theory, anyway, if that was the way wars worked in the last half of the 20th century. Instead we get boys dying for causes outside the scope of protecting freedom. Instead we spend all our money protect “American Interests,” which are corporate interests that help purchase our elections.

But this is not a rant about stolen ideals. Not directly. This is a plea for American’s to truly wake up and rise from the ashes and to close the psychic wound that gapes in our hearts. Focus. We will never bring Osama bin Laden to justice, because he died in the flight from his Afghani cave. The Taliban, once a benefactor of $2 million US dollars in the War on Drugs, is not our enemy, but a fanatical, repressive cult that would have been brought down by natural causes soon enough. Saddam Hussein is a whipping boy for the Bushies and is impotent on the world stage. He did not fund the terrorist attack on us. He is a threat to the region and should be treated as thus. This is not worth our time.

We should break with Saudi Arabia and follow the money. The idle-rich class of princes spends more timing assuring that they will not be overthrown by berating the U.S. and Israel to the common folk than they do on improving their country. They know that “American Interests” flow deep within their country’s black heart, and so we will keep out mouths shut. This should not be tolerated by any patriot.

The face of Mohammed Atta haunts my nightmares. Hussein, bin Laden, these men don’t even give me pause. They are the faces of men who have pissed off the CEOs of America. But Atta, he worked hard to assimilate himself into our country and culture, and he still found reason to hate us. This ignorance is our enemy. This prejudice is our enemy. Nineteen men tore us apart. Nineteen men passed judgment on our country and found it worthy of terror and death. Nineteen men changed the very core of our country.

And now we fix it by chasing after phantoms, while our leaders distract us with tough talk and colorful warning signs?

I still have no answers. But this I know: More are now aware. Our leaders are inept. They are looking so hard at their self-interests that they are blind to the dangers our country faces. Instead of steeling our resolve, they pass laws that make it easier to spy on our own citizens. They take away our freedoms, telling us that life will be safer.

But a patriot will die for his country. And my country is freedom. And I will live free or die.

The raw nerve that September 11 has exposed is still painful. My thoughts glance on it with delicacy and tenderness. It is still too big. Are there lessons to be learned when 3000 die? Is there anyone who will listen? I have no answers and expect none from any source.

Posted by Jonathan at 02:28 AM, 13 September 2002

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