In the days after September 11, 2001, I remember seeing blue skies unmarred by the trails of aircraft, because the planes were grounded. It was eerie to look up and see the sky so blue without the chem trails of planes, the crisscross patterns that indicated people were going on about their day, flying hither and yon without a care.
People were quiet, at first, and helpful, at first. But after a few days, the air changed. I felt anger, hatred, and evil seething in the store when I went after groceries. It has ebbed and flowed over the last 23 years, that feeling that I have when I am in a crowd, but it has never gone away, not since September 12, 2001. For a day - maybe two - we were one nation, pulled together by the horror of what we'd witnessed.
But after that? We were an angry, scared bunch of people, and we've stayed that way. We frayed. We pulled apart. And the distance and the turmoil grew, and in the end, the terrorists won after all, for all that they've been dead for a long time.
In the end, they destroyed us - because we have destroyed ourselves.
We've raised an entire generation in that atmosphere of fear and hate. They don't know anything except fear and hate. That's all they know.
What has it been like for them, growing up in this new world that we allowed to happen, the one where everyone is afraid, and big men must carry guns with little, deadly bullets to compensate for their fears?
I know what it has been like for me to live in this time - it's been basically an ulcer-creating atmosphere. But what must it be like for those young folks, the ones who are now turning 21?
What do they think and feel, having grown up every moment with this disease of the soul, this dark pall that has fallen over this nation?
I remember the blue skies on September 12. I looked up at the blue, blue skies, those brilliant September skies.
And the memories of what we were before, knowing what we could have been, and the thought of those clear blue skies, are what pulls me through.
Today I remember the 343 firefighters who lost their lives on that fateful day, and the numerous others who have died over the years from cancers and demons that day brought on.
It is a sad. I am glad my parents are not around to see how things have regressed.
ReplyDeleteI've written similar things over the years since 9-11. A nation divided against itself means the terrorists won. I remember those blue skies and that spirit of unity (it lasted a bit longer than a day here). I remember when we were all Democrats and Republicans and we didn't care. We still got along. I'm another who thinks those we lost before 9-11 would look at our world today and think we've all lost our flipping minds.
ReplyDelete