Forget

So, what is it that we a remembering now?

• That we are not immune to the horrors of the world?
• That we are capable, in extreme moments, of extreme sacrifice & extreme selflessness?
• That, when allowed time to "think" about things, it is actually our fears & emotions that take over?
• That the quest for justice can be perverted with disastrous, evil results?
• That the world is awfully damned quiet when all the planes are grounded?
• That our capacity for exploitation knows no bounds?
• That people with the will to do harm can do enormous harm against very long odds?
• That the enemy of our enemy is not always our friend?
• That chickens come home to roost?
• That people will come up with the most outrageous explanations to avoid that which they do not want to face?
• That assassination and murder are the same thing?
• That war by another name is terrorism?
• That the ends justify the means?
• That the ends don't justify the means?
• That one horrible act can became an excuse for a lot more horrible acts?
• That nothing is ever clear?
• That almost nobody is right when it comes to this?
• That myriad & endless eventual minutiae can be roped into the same narrative, robbing such event of meaning and substance, no matter how monumental said event was/is?
• That those ah-rabs hate our freedom?
• That there is a whole 'nother reality that we have only begun to be introduced to?
• That bin Laden is/was Satan?
• That bin Laden was a revolutionary?
• That we helped create the very terrorist organization that is responsible for 9/11?
• That our jingoism knows no bounds?
• That, if Japan had nuked us instead of vice versa, this event wouldn't seem as monolithic?
• That we really don't like it when the war is brought to us for a change?
• That people running for office know no shame?
• That there are people, ordinary people, who pay the ultimate price for things that happen far beyond their muster?
• That this horrible act harmed not only innocent citizens of New York and Washington, but innocent citizens of Afghanistan and Iraq, not to mention collateral damage in Britain, Spain, Pakistan, India, Palestine, Israel, Syria, etc.?
• That violence begets violence?

That the sun always rises in the morning?

In the mouths of far too many, "REMEMBER 9/11" is empty sloganeering.  It is nothing more than lip service to a demographic, a bumper sticker that signifies your club.  It is all about the speaker, not those about whom we speak.

In the mouths of far too many, "REMEMBER 9/11" is a call to war against that which they refuse to understand, an empty blanket of words to protect them from the OTHER.

Some will not be able to forget, as much as they want to.  For the rest of us, given the "lessons" that we have "learned" from 9/11, amnesia would be better . . . an entirely appropriate moment of tribute for the innocent victims and the heroes (yes, I will use that word) who tried to rescue them has been swallowed by flag waving USA! chants.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: REMEMBER 9/11 is the victory of the people who brought down the towers.  Their place in our fears is ultimately exactly what they hoped for.

The past returns to us like a ghost, haunts us . . . handcuffs us to a history that we can't escape, or believe we can't escape.  To move forward, we must overcome the past, actively build our past into our own future . . .

. . . which indeed, is exactly REMEMBER 9/11 crowd are doing, but with disastrous results.  It's one thing to write your past, but you must be responsible for it.  The REMEMBER 9/11 crowd are handcuffing themselves to the ghost of burning buildings, to a future of vengeance and retribution.  It is, indeed, an old specter, a film that has been running in a destructive loop almost since the beginning of remembrance, since the beginning of history.  It is the haunting, the history we can't escape: it is the document of our extinction.

So let's turn our backs on all this jingoism.  If we want to remember 9/11 at all, let's make it a Memorial Day for slaughtered innocents worldwide - not just here, not just then.  Let's make it a day for those who are destroyed by forces of violence and repression everywhere.  Not a victim's day, mind you, but a day to re-dedicate ourselves to the dreams of the lost, the dreams that perhaps they didn't even dare to dream.  Let us make 9/11 a quiet memorial to the brotherhood of the common man.

In other words, let's forget 9/11.