Looking back...

"Reflecting Absence"

The National September 11 Memorial is a tribute of remembrance and honor to the nearly 3,000 people killed in the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 at the World Trade Center site, near Shanksville, Pa., and at the Pentagon, as well as the six people killed in the World Trade Center bombing in February 1993.

(2977 people killed on 9/11/01, and 6 in 1993)

The Memorial’s twin reflecting pools are each nearly an acre in size and feature the largest manmade waterfalls in the North America. The pools sit within the footprints where the Twin Towers once stood. Architect Michael Arad and landscape architect Peter Walker created the Memorial design selected from a global design competition that included more than 5,200 entries from 63 nations.

The names of every person who died in the 2001 and 1993 attacks are inscribed into bronze panels edging the Memorial pools, a powerful reminder of the largest loss of life resulting from a foreign attack on American soil and the greatest single loss of rescue personnel in American history.

9/11 Memorial website

I have tried to come up with a clear, concise statement of what the 10 year anniversary of 9/11 means to me.

I can't.

I have sympathy for the personal stories of loss, and I'm filled with awe and appreciation for the courage displayed by regular folk caught in the unlikely horror.  

At the same time, in the days, months, and years that followed, the dignity of the personal stories was co-opted by the media and political idealogues to make money and hold onto power, without regard for truth or nuance.

I have some bitterness about that.

As Fareed Zakaria said in today's GPS on CNN:

Fifty years from now we might even look at 9/11 as simply the beginning of the decline of America as the world's unrivaled hegemon.  On the day before 9/11, the United States was at peace, had a large budget surplus (128 billion) and oil was trading at $28/barrel.  Today the United States is engaged in military operations across the globe, has a deficit of 1.5 trillion dollars, the largest in it's history, and oil is at $115/barrel.

In the Seattle Times, Jon Talton writes:

In attacking the United States 10 years ago, one of Osama bin Laden's major goals was to provoke a hysterical American overreaction that would begin bleeding the nation into economic ruin.
Mission accomplished?
In 2001, the federal government was enjoying its second straight fiscal-year surplus.  The Congressional Budget Office projected the surpluses would grow to almost $700 billion by 2009.  Hard as it is to believe now, the government announced in October 2001 that it would discontinue selling the 30 year bond because it wouldn't need the money.  Although Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, the American invasion was sold as part of a larger "war on terror" which now includes the war in Afghanistan.  The wars, as well as other increased military spending, costs $1.469 trillion through the 2009 fiscal year, helping turn surpluses into deficit, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.  

Not to mention the attack on civil liberties, escalating negative rhetoric, and our esteem in the rest of the world.  

I don't think the United States reacted well after 9/11. Its been sad and frustrating.  

To remember the best of the United States, read the personal stories of courage displayed by victims and survivors of the attack on America September 11. 2011.

But, don't forget, the worst of the United States has become evident as well; reactionary, fearful, easily manipulated, controlled by corporations, and revenge-seeking.  

In the end, I hope it's the best of us that we carry into tomorrow.