Almost forgot.
Today in Rewalsar the Buddhist gompas (monasteries) are all putting on big ceremonies to celebrate Shakyamuni Buddha day. Additionally, there’s a solar eclipse today. I’m a bit embarrassed to admit I almost forgot the other thing. Last year I remembered, but didn’t think to post anything in the blog.
September 11, 2001. New York City. The World Trade Center.
Ground Zero.
Do you remember where you where when it happened? what you were thinking? I do. I was at home, working on that first cuppa coffee, browsing the morning’s news and email, when the first horrible pictures and videos came trickling over the wire. The first plane. The second plane. The collapse of the towers. The heroism and tragedy of flight 93. The strike at the Pentagon.
What I remember most about that day is how the aspects of good and evil suddenly became magnified. For every good Samaritan who wanted to contribute time, money, or equipment to the rescue efforts, there seemed to be a hate monger demanding that we “nuke ‘em till they glow.”. I remember the fear and dread I felt as the first political implications of the morning’s events began to sink in. As a professional Bay Area geek, I worked with my share of Indian engineers working in the States on H!-B visas. I worried
about racist goons beating up a coworker simply for the color of their skin, or their accent. I watched a scary transmission from New York as pedestrians attempted to outrun the raging dust clouds generated by the tumbling towers. In a candlelit vigil with neighbors, I prayed for more peace and understanding.
September 11, 2001 will always be one of those “when everything changed” dates in history. But what’s happened since then?
We’ve invaded Iraq, and we’re still there. “Mission Accomplished” has turned into “Mission Not Quite Ready Yet–will a Tuesday in 2008 Work for Everybody?”
Bin Laden is still alive.
Saddam Hussein is dead.
More US soldiers have died in Iraq than originally died on 9/11.
Hurricane Katrina demonstrated the country’s lack of disaster preparedness four years later…
Rove is gone.
Cheney’s still around.
I undergo more security processing to enter my home country of the United States than I do, say, for going to France.
Living in a different country hasn’t changed my perspective on 9/11 much. However, being in a country with its own distinct terrorism problems makes it harder to keep American terrorism problems in mind. So I spent today putting my mind on the job of remembering.
What do you all remember about today? How much did things change for you?
Before it all went down, I had long expected something of the sort to happen. I’d actually commented on occasion that it was surprising we hadn’t had very many terrorist attacks on US soil. Afterwards, the response was pretty much as bad as I had expected, and I think that anyone who had taken the time to observe with a critical eye came to the same conclusions. So six years later, we’re less safe, and I just keep reminding myself of the dharma to keep from getting too frustrated by it all.
Comment by Mel | September 11, 2007
I was in Eugene at the time - US west coast time - driving the children to school. I turned the radio on and someone was babbling. It wasn’t until they went on (and on…) that I really listened to what they said. Then I had to go home and find out what was going on. A day I spent mostly glued to the television, and then trying to find out where my sister was (DC - she was fine) and my sister in law (NY - she was fine, she just had to walk for miles to get to a place where she could find working transportation to get home).
Comment by Elizabeth | September 13, 2007