A Joyous Perspective on The Day Before: What we can learn from 9-11

 

Like most people over 25, you can remember where you were on 9.11.2001.

It was a day that changed how we live in many parts of our lives forever. As we approach the 22nd anniversary of that day, my memories first go to just how much things have changed. And then, to how many things have stayed the same. Some of them both surprise and sadden me.

I might be one of the only people you know who was at Chicago O'Hare on September 10, 2001.

Yes, youngsters, we could pull up to the sidewalk outside arrivals, leave our car, and go straight into the airport. You looked at the arrivals screen, found the gate, and walked up to it to wait for your expected person to arrive. For me, my son Jeremy was flying back from California for a few days before starting college. There were very few armed police. I don't even remember where Security was, which we used to call what is now "TSA." The place was packed with people. People with flowers and balloons welcoming their loved ones. People with signs indicating who they were picking up. We picked up Jeremy's suitcase and walked back out to the car. If you forgot something at the gate or needed to return, you just did that. There wasn't a point of no return.

After flights were finally allowed to take place two weeks later, we returned to O'Hare. It was a shell of the place it had previously been. Kind of a ghost town, really. We were directed to where we could park. There were concrete barricades, National Guard, and Police everywhere, inspecting every person, and you entered Security immediately after checking in. No long goodbyes or time for conversation. I watched with tear-filled eyes as Jeremy went through Security, turned, and waved goodbye. I spent the next 7 hours with a nervous stomach until he called to say he had landed. Air travel had become something of an activity like getting on a bus. Not anymore. It had changed forever.

As a country, we became more tightly woven together during the first few
years after 9/11.

We knew we had become a target of some other humans who had decided to hate us for many reasons. We loved who we were, and we had decided we would not be the ones to give up whatever it was they hated. And so we fought them, and we sent our very best young people to fight and even die for those things the humans we called terrorists hated. But they fought back, and no matter how much blood was spilled, they continued to fight. We grew weary and then started to turn on each other. Perhaps we were beginning to believe that this great tragedy had grown within the seeds of our own prosperity. The chasm grew greater as new causes and categories of people were formed. Like those 19 young men who followed blindly, convinced they were bringing truth and justice to the world, we began to band together and believe that the enemy was all around us. We took our rights versus working toward them.

The day before 9/11/01, there wasn't anything called 'Social Media'...

If you wished to state an opinion, you wrote the newspaper or called your local radio station. No one could respond, and unless they kept the clipping, the evidence of your thoughts would soon be forgotten. Today, we can diatribe or repost words that we find enticing and titillating, then wait to see who will respond. Sometimes, we get into miniature wars with those who disagree. Like those who flew those planes into buildings 22 years ago, we allow relationships to die rather than find understanding. These terrorists divided their families based on religion, and this confounded us. How are they that different from those of us who divide a family or relationship based on who we voted for or what we believe? These people who we put on a watchlist.

How different is that from putting people on a list who support a particular political cause that we disagree with?

Did 9/11 teach us anything? I'm beginning to fear it did not.

However, I am determined to use my voice to try. Because if my son's life and his determination to maintain our lifestyle against those who thought it evil meant anything, I hope it meant that we are all still on the same side. Yes, we will disagree. Yes, we will vote for different candidates. We don't have to tolerate anxiety; we can believe in seeking acceptance toward peace. You don't have to look like me to be my neighbor. You don't have to vote like me to be my friend.

Yes, we will not like what our leaders decide to do. But I hope we will not call those who differ from us in these ways 'terrorists.' Instead, we will call them our citizens. Let us not allow those who broadcast to us to form our opinions or call us to arms for their personal power. That's what Osama Bin Laden and his like were successful in doing. Instead, if 9/11 can teach us anything, then we will utilize discourse and thought to help us form an understanding.

Maybe even a 'more perfect union'.

So, my friends, on this day, as I look back over the 22 years since the day before 9/11, I urge you to consider any and all ways you have chosen division over understanding. Those who disagree with you are not your enemy or your terrorist. Unlike those lost souls who followed a foolish belief into oblivion, you could look into the eyes of those you don't understand and find some answers and more common ground.