During the presidential election a few years back, Americans
were asked to examine whether or not they were better off at
present than they were four years earlier.
During the presidential election a few years back, Americans were asked to examine whether or not they were better off at present than they were four years earlier. I can’t recall which election that was, or who asked the question. Maybe that is now standard procedure during presidential elections. But I think of it now, as we commemorate the two years since the attack on our country which changed everything.
Are we better off now than we were on September 11, 2001? What has changed, and for whom is the world better? For me, the answers are not very clear. My family in New York continues to feel the reverberations of that fateful day. My brother-in-law works at Ground Zero. He has had to go there every day for two years now. That takes its toll on the soul. My husband lost his job the very week of the terrorist attack. It was a year before he was underemployed, and the economy has still not recovered. I don’t feel as secure as I used to, I suppose I was taking my comfort for granted.
It wasn’t long ago that I used to worry about children who weren’t fortunate enough to live in our country. But children died on September 11 at the hands of evil men. We live in a world inhabited by men who can ignore the future under the guise of some misplaced spiritual gratification. These are men who don’t know that there is no God who would justify the killing of innocent children is his name.
Al-Qaida is still operating and we haven’t captured Osama bin Laden. Two years have gone by and there are reports being issued of a renewed threat from al-Qaida that another terrorist attack may be imminent. The people of Afghanistan are still suffering, even though most of the thugs who are responsible for those crimes against humanity are merely hiding out in their country, and not Afghan citizens.
While uniting against terror, our country has stayed in a deep recession. We still haven’t figured out who is responsible for the anthrax attacks. We have stretched our military thin by sending our troops to Iraq and elsewhere. After a quick liberation, the war in Iraq drudges on from within. Our troops will be in harms way for a longer time than most of us thought while we were watching the monument of Saddam Hussein being toppled. I mistakenly believed that capturing Saddam was the highest priority. I guess we are putting that off until we find all those weapons of mass destruction. I pray that those brave soldiers we have deployed will all return home soon.
Unfortunately, in some ways we are as sharply divided as ever. I’ll admit that it’s a lot more subtle than in days gone by. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the case of the Alabama judge who wouldn’t remove a monument of the Ten Commandments that was inappropriately placed on public land. Those laws are the foundation of my religious beliefs, but I don’t need or want the government to remind me. I find it ironic that Alabama is a death penalty state. I never saw the monument; perhaps they added an asterisk after “Thou Shalt not Kill.”
Like many other states, California is entangled in an economic depression and budget crisis. We also have a surrealistic political circus unfolding. Now that Arnold is fading fast, I predict that we are about to spend millions to either retain our current governor or bump up his lieutenant. Millions of dollars could buy millions of books for our schools and libraries. I”ll have to take solace in the fact that I wasn’t one of those who signed the recall petition which started us down this road to nowhere.
But all is not lost. There is hope two years after that day of infamy. My brother-in-law has just recorded a song he wrote to honor those who died that tragic day. My children are still optimistic about the future, so I have to be optimistic for them. People from all over the globe still see America as the best place to start a better life.
One of the lessons I’ve learned post-September 11 is that while life here is fragile, we are resilient. Our resolve as a nation has never been stronger. The tragedy of September 11, 2001 would seem less significant if it were just the first in a series of attacks on our nation. While we have been on high alert, we have remained relatively safe. It is my fervent hope that September 11 will always remain America’s only second Memorial Day.
