Now Where? 9/11 Ten Years Later, aka Getting the Train Back on the Tracks

Ten years and here we are. There are two and a half wars going on in Muslim nations. Our national economy has stalled and our fiscal pre-eminence is wavering. These are gently massaged facts, but they are mostly facts nonetheless. It doesn’t paint a pretty picture.

And much, not all, but much of our forever altered place on the global stage can be attributed to our national reaction in the days, weeks, and now full decade that followed Al-Qaeda’s devastating attack on our country. I don’t think it’s an unpatriotic thing to say we’ve failed. It would be unpatriotic to believe that we can’t do better.

There are many great stories of heroism, courage, and selflessness that emerged in the minutes and hours following the greatest strike on our country’s shores. I am not trying to discount this in the least. The first responders and people on the hijacked flights that risked and lost their lives deserve the honor of being properly mourned and respected. All of those who lost loved ones or knew of people who did deserve sympathy.

But this is a referendum on our reaction to the events of September 11, 2001. I don’t think it’s wrong to say that we whiffed at our opportunity to set an example of how a civilized, democratic, free, and diverse nation should act in the face of an unspeakable tragedy. We took the aggressive and at times bigoted approach, and this is mirrored in our policy decisions as well as our national attitude over the past ten years.

Our national cry to remain “united” was drowned out by the forces that believed protecting our shores and our way of life could only be attained by dividing our citizenry. Let’s face a few facts; the perpetrators who blew up our buildings believed in an extreme bastardization of Islam, so yes, to an extent, they were Muslims. Let’s also own up to the fact that between 8 and 10 million Muslim Americans, and as many as a billion Muslims worldwide had absolutely nothing to with the events of September 11th.

My ultimate point is that our very reactionary reaction was so insular, volatile, and lacked any hint of foresight, that it has forever weakened our place on this planet. More than anything, to be American was an attitude- an attitude that transcends and supersedes any supposed cultural identity wrapped in traditional Judeo-Christian tenets. The attitude was “can do”, “live free”, and “we’re number one.” The Patriot Act and ballooning of our hidden top-secret “intelligence”(used loosely) infrastructure (covered exhaustively
by PBS in its expose among other things, have turned our
government, once proudly transparent, into a disgracefully shady and backroom operation. You know, like how the bad guys operate. This is a damned shame.

And let us not forget what these decisions have done to our ultimate might, our standing in the world from the perspective of other nations. This reverence of America, from mimicking our governments to striving to attain our prosperity to putting our pop stars at the top of your pop charts, this global admiration has abandoned us to a great degree. A president who liked blowies while working once said that America leads best when it leads by the power of its example rather than the example of its power. This is rhetoric, but it's brilliant, and it's true.

It’s a truly remarkable thing to consider that a nation of 300 million could be the gold standard in a world of over 7 billion. But that’s who we were, and I believe that’s who we can be again. We weren’t revered the world over strictly because we had the finest military on the globe. (Which we do- but our fighting forces have also proven they are not equipped to battle ideologies instead of nation-states, and are more equipped to fight than to nation-build.) We were looked up to because of how we lived. Free and rich. The diverse land of opportunity. This is not to portray the pre-9/11 USA as some sort of utopia. We had plenty of problems. But post-9/11 America has lost sight of what really matters. Peace and prosperity is where it’s at, and we’ve been at odds with this ethos for ten years.

So we eschewed the peaceful route, and this has also derailed our train on the prosperity express. I can think of a few better ways to spend a few trillion dollars than to blow up Arab nations and try to rebuild them as lovers of those who blew them up. I’ll even leave it up for debate. Progressives could argue that this money could have been spent on schools, infrastructure, and green economy initiatives. Conservatives could argue that this money could have been returned to the tax-paying public, or used for investing in American businesses and research. Fact is, they are both right. We’ve lost too many people in the global community, diminished our standing on the international stage, and spent far too many dollars waging unwinnable wars.

I can hear people asking now, “what were we supposed to do, not fight back?” I’ll answer that question with a question. “If someone punches you in the face, do you punch their distant cousin in the face?” Fact is, we ended up getting Osama and many of his top lieutenants in operations conducted outside the scope of our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

So as we move forward in the next ten years after the first ten years after our nation’s great tragedy, let’s look forward instead of in reverse. How can we do better? That is a far greater question than to ask- How do we get revenge? Revenge is fleeting and panders to the most simplistic of human emotions. Peace, prosperity, and setting the example of how to attain it is everlasting and actualizes our place as the most sophisticated mammals this big ball of matter has ever seen.

We will never forget. But when we look back, let’s make sure we don’t forget who we are, and not let the cowardly actions of a devious few dictate how we conduct ourselves as a proud nation, united in our pursuit of peace and prosperity.

So I'll stand tall and strong, like the pillar of the American Dream that stands firm and true holding my deepest beliefs as an American citizen; We can do better and We will do better. We are Americans, and that's what We do.