Living in Infamy

So today is the day.  We all know what today, September 11, means.  We remember that horrible day seven years ago, some of us with clarity and some in clouded and selected memory.  We all know what sort of impact the events of that day had on us, even many that are still very real and apparent today.  I don’t to get into anything too political here, as it is not my intent to polarize readers who may not share my (and our magazine’s) opinions.  But let’s not lose track of the fact that party lines or not, we have been separated into two groups of thinkers when it comes to our country’s domestic and international affairs in this post-9/11 world.  We cannot continue fighting with each other over the facts.  But we can also not stop fighting for what we believe in, so long as we keep things as progressive and constructive as possible.  We can’t start civil wars just because we don’t agree with our wars oversees.  And we can’t forget that there is more than one way of thinking in this country about all things political—really, if want to get metaphysical here, there is more than one one million ways to do and think and say and believe in anything.

Okay, so we have work to do.  We are all capable of what we can do.  We cannot single-handedly stop that which we don’t believe in, or continue what we think should be finished.  We are all responsible for ourselves only.  Even if you have a family you are in charge of caring for, we can only think globally if we realize what each of our strengths and contributive abilities are.  The way progress works is if we all pitch in that what we are capable of doing, and in seeing the strengths of others we then raise our own ceilings of power.

This is an ideological way of looking at life in this world, I understand.  We don’t walk around thinking, “Oh I wonder what my strengths are and how I can raise my power so I can help the greater good in this world!” I mean, I don’t see that.  Maybe you do that.  I don’t know.

But I think it is a logical way of looking at issues that confuse and challenge us.  We have a lot to handle these days, from rising gas prices (even though they just lowered here....big deal) to the cost of food and utilities and everything else.  And this war of ours.  We are each affected by it somehow, though I know for many people it hits closer to home than it does others.  Still, we have a lot on our plate.

Take today to think about the fact that our lives can be changed in the matter of a single morning.  Some of these things fall into our lap without any warning, and we must pick up the pieces left in their destruction.  And some things we have something to do with happening as well.  A few—hopefully but a very few—are explicitly our faults.  It doesn’t matter which way of thinking you subscribe to in regards to 9/11.  It’s just time to start acting and talking, thinking and dreaming, doing and supporting—instead of bitching and complaining, mourning and wallowing.  Let’s all pick each other up by our feet and start walking together.  We have an election coming up soon, a very important election.  We have the option of picking one man who believes in our future, and we have another man who believes in our future.  BIG DECISION, RIGHT?  Pick which future you want, and start going there.  It’s just around the corner.

Photo of Lower Manhattan courtesy this guy.

Posted by on 09/11 at 02:42 PM