9/11/10
Today the crystal clear sky is similar to the one we had nine years ago. Finally we see a building rising up in the hole that has been sitting empty for so long. To take nine years of struggle to rebuild is a depiction of the times we live in.
Americans success and leadership throughout the world has been our demise over the past nine years. We want what we want and we want it now. We have buried ourselves into debt and mismanagement because we thought we didn't have to pay for it.
A lot has changed over the past nine years since terrorists took down the world trade towers. We live with a sense of fear knowing that something like that could easily happen again. It could. We live in a world where security is everywhere.
I hope that when the new building opens its doors on the ground of the former World Trade Center that as Americans we sit back and reflect on our future. How can we rise again? When did we lose our way in education and other industries? Why can't we live in peace and embrace each other as one nation regardless of religion or any beliefs? Why can't we agree to disagree? Can we forge together on new economies without anger and frustration? Can we be united?
On a perfect fall day when the sun is shining against a crystal clear blue sky I feel optimistic. Perhaps we should all be thinking about how we need to become a more humble embracing united nation to each and everyone of our fellow Americans. As the building rises, let's all rise up too.
Comments (Archived):
All day today I have been avoiding checking in on the normal round of news sites and blogs trying to avoid thinking about the anniversary. So when I had a few minutes to sit down at the computer and I thought I would hit your blog first thinking I could read about one of your recent restaurant finds or perhaps a new recipe to try out this weekend not thinking I would have to sit and reflect on the anniversary. But alas no restaurant review or recipe just a very well done and poignant musing. Thank you.
Thanks. I can’t not help but reflect on a day like today.
I spent today with close friends, many of whom are going through change. We spent hours discussing how often, change is forced and most often, uncomfortable. But if you can calmly move forward and see the opportunity in uncertainty, change can lead to better things.There is so much uncertainty in the world right now, we are a nation ripe for change. I am also optimistic. We are capable of doing better.What a beautiful post, Joanne. Thank you.
Thanks Erin. Change isn’t easy but I totally agree…we are ripe forchange.
Do you really think change is possible when there is so much money and power involved?FOX news is printing money on a press fueled by fear and hate.It’s counter MSNBC serves up the liberal elite to pad its coffers. Outsourcing is directly correlated to maximizing quarterly profitsPartisanship is traced to who sits on committees that control purse strings.Lobbyists ensure that laws are rewritten at the behest of corporations.I can go on on, but frankly it gets me too upset. We’ve become a country obsessed with the next quarter or the next election cycle instead of the next generation. Sad.I don’t mean to be so negative, or sound like an insane conspiracy theorist. Because I believe the vast amount of Americans don’t need to change that much. They are good, hard-working, caring people. As are the majority of people around the globe. Sadly, the 1% that control policy, budgets, and warfare (you can throw in wall street, school boards, politicians, bigots, or terrorists in here just to name a few) really do ruin it for everyone. And I’m not sure how to change that.
You are sadly right. I have almost stopped reading parts of the paperbecause it is so damn depressing.Perhaps because I spend so much time talking with smart people, likeyourself, who are looking to create new economies that this sheer optimismwill bleed into that terrible 1% who truly do ruin it for everyone. Thelunatic loud mouths who seem to command the media I call the minor majority.They seem to be the majority because they vocalize their unhappiness butgenerally the people who are happy don’t say anything. Maybe this Novemberthe people who see past the next quarter will think about our future insteadof returning to policies of greed that have proven to be the straw thatbroke that camel’s back.
Nice essay. This is my first 9/11 living in NYC, and I feel optimistic, too. Over time, right tends to win out.I want to thank you, too, Joanne. I was drawn here by a google alert mentioning my name. Thanks for the kind words about my book, Columbine, in your Books of the Moment column. I was tickled to be listed right after my all-time favorite book, Catcher in the Rye.
I have been singing the praises of your book all over town. Truly welldone. Thanks for the comment….
Beautiful post Joanne.
For me, 9/11 changed the world as we knew it. It seems to have precipitated our fall from grace as a nation. As opposed to being used as a rallying cry for change it has had quite the opposite affect. I’ve often wondered why the US through their powers of eminent domain didn’t seize the property and construct a monument to the fallen for all Americans. As you suggest, taking 9 years to emerge from the ashes is symbolic our our internal troubles as a country. The billions lost in the debacles of Iraq and Afghanistan and taking on reconstruction of their governments and people while our own government displays its petty ineffectiveness on a daily basis and real unemployment hovers just under 20%. The meltdown of Wall Street precipitated by greed, but more importantly, ill advised fiscal policy that poured gasoline on the fire and has leveraged our country to unprecedented levels. A new electorate swept into office on the mantra of change only to misread the people’s agenda and launch an ill-advised jihad on health care reform that has done nothing but precipitate an economic, class and party war when we could least afford it.We are on a losing streak as a nation and just as in sports when you lose you refocus on fundamentals. In doing so winning begins to happen again.
Our fall from grace as a nation is so disheartening. You would have thought the opposite would have happened. We didn’t become strong, we became a mess.I always love the sports analogy. We’ve changed coaches but we have to change from defense to offense. We need to step back and learn how to make a different shot or a new stroke.Your comments are spot on.