I was 47, plenty old enough to at least try to comprehend what had happened and to note the coincidence: 9/11, 9-1-1.
Emergency.
I wondered for a moment if the Al-Qaida brain trust had chosen the date for that reason, but it was more about logistics and that it was a go/no go situation, aided by what many noted as a brilliantly clear September day. Perfect flying conditions.
I had walked to my office at the church and fired up the little 12-inch black and white television with the single extendable antenna that usually sat in a corner, collecting dust. I was watching as UA Flight 175 hit the south tower and put an end to the earlier speculation regarding the collision of American Flight 11 with the north tower being an unfortunate accident.
There were two more grotesque, intentional plane crashes that morning, along with many stories of genuine bravery, followed in the days to come by reactive bravado and pretense, as we were plunged into retaliatory wars with Iraq and Afghanistan, and the search for bin Laden commenced.
It may have taken a while, but people came to realize that the terrorists had won a battle of sorts—things changed at airports, the TSA was formed, security apparatus was consolidated under the umbrella of Homeland Security, and we perhaps felt violated, or at least vulnerable for a while. Lingering change came that day, whether or not some can yet admit it.
There’s no going back, and the world has become a much uglier, more unforgiving place.
It seemed there was a brief uptick in church attendance, but that didn’t last long. Anger and patriotic fervor led to an increase in armed services enlistments. Islam took a hit, and many took a closer look at the tenets of that faith or simply operated on the assumption that all Muslims aren’t to be trusted. Religious faith in general may have suffered a blow, post-9/11/01.
The date has joined the ranks of other low points in our history— April 14, 1861, April 14, 1865, October 28 & 29, 1929, December 7, 1941, November 22, 1963, a couple days in April and June 1968, along with others since then.
And I cannot shake the thought that we had it coming.
I love the idea of America, but am not an “America–right or wrong” guy. It became apparent to me at some point that others hated us because we were just the latest empire behaving like past empires. We were always calling ourselves the last remaining superpower.
The perception, from the perspective of a conservative Islamic cleric with access to means and resources, was that we were a haughty, liberal den of iniquity, Satan personified, and we had our fingers in way too many cookie jars around the world.
I am by no means condoning what Osama bin Laden and others conceived and a small contingent of zealots carried out, but we have to know that what unfolded really didn’t happen out of the blue. The cost of what we claim to hold near and dear– freedom of speech and religion and the rest, along with self-determination– is high, and even the appearance of such liberty and self-expression is offensive to some, along with the aforementioned omnipresence around the world.
This is not solely about what might have happened if we showed restraint along the way and learned to talk less about American exceptionalism and our status as “shining city on the hill.” September 11, 2001, it seems to me, was about a perhaps inevitable clash of philosophies and visions, which solidified, on the one hand, a rightfully and predictably acquired suspicion and skepticism of religious zeal and fanaticism…
… but on the other hand, exposed the consequences of hubris and greed and ever-expanding spheres of influence– almost as if our power could be absolute, or our supposed “way of life” and ideals were, are or should be desirable by all– paragons of virtue intended to be thrust upon everybody and accepted with a smile and a thank-you.
Of course, given our lingering fixation on and reverence for inanimate structures that are no longer standing, along with the current reality of an entire presidential administration and political party distracted by self-interest, delusions of grandeur, and whatever the opposite of patriotism is, we probably need not worry about our way of life and ideals being all that attractive to much of anyone right now.
In fact, bad guys in other countries might be smiling, and licking their chops, as they monitor some serious cracks in the foundation.
3 Cents' 