Life goes on
September 11th came and went without much fanfare and little remembrance. My wife and I spent the evening at an outdoor concert sponsored by a local radio station. There were a few protesters with signs questioning who benefited from the 9/11 attacks. Otherwise, few talked about it. The newspaper had a couple of articles and the news lightly mentioned it, almost as if in passing.
How quickly we forget. In only a few years time we’ve gone back to life as normal, complaining about our lives, warring with our neighbors, and occasionally mentioning how much our world has changed since September 11th, 2001. That’s a little unfair. Part of life is living, and life must go on. Tragedy affects us profoundly when it happens but our ability to move forward is what gives us great resilience. It makes us a very short sided people, but capable of great things.
Has the world really changed so much in the last few years? I don’t really think so. Perhaps, that’s because I was never that naive about the way of the world. Maybe, a touch cynical but the world is what it is without putting rose-colored glasses to everything. It’s an amazing world, but one that is fraught with dangers for the blind.
There was plenty of war, death, destruction, and chaos before 9/11 we choose not to look at it. It burns our eyes and chokes our bellies with vile disgust when we think about it too much. So, the nightly news gives us pictures of tragedy always desensitizing us to the horrors and wonders of the world we live.
No, in the grand scheme of things the world hasn’t changed much at all. We still pay our taxes, go to work and school, and live our lives as best we can. We change, the world doesn’t, and yet it all stays the same.
Does that mean September 11th has no meaning, or special purpose in our lives? No. Quite the contrary, but it’s important to remember it has the meaning we give it, and whether we honor this date in history with banners, flags, parades, memorials or a simple note in one persons column makes no difference.
