Another September has arrived, and, with it, more commemorations of the anniversary of the event that has done more than anything else to define the politics and culture of our current century. A human tragedy of epic proportions. A shock to our sense of security. And a new understanding of the extent to which our planet has shrunken in a globalized, digitalized economy, and of how connected events in the farthest corners of the world are to each one of us.
I remember thinking to myself, and saying to others, as they and I were attempting to pick through the fog of our emotions to sort out the path forward for us all, that you don't measure recovery from a disaster such as this one in days, weeks, and months, no matter how much all of us wanted to somehow feel better than we did. You measure it in years, and even decades.
Well, we have certainly had years, and almost decades. Two years from now will be the 20th anniversary of the hijacking of four airplanes and their transformation into human missiles against New York's World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and yet another target that was never reached because of the courage of the passengers on the fourth plane, as well as the cellphones that gave them the information they needed to act on their courage, and say goodbye to those who meant most to them.
Where are we today?
Are we safer, stronger, freer, and more compassionate than we were on the day before September 11, 2001?
I wish I could say we were. But I can't.
Because I have seen this nation descend from that day into a cesspool of profiteering and paranoia that threatens the survival of our democracy and our civilization more than any terrorist ever could.
We have seen the need to arm ourselves against new threats turn into an unending stream of public money for a war in Afghanistan that seems without end or achievable goal, a war against Iraq that was based on lies and gave birth to ISIS, and a potential war with Iran that seems perpetually ready to start at any minute.
We have seen a newfound respect for the role that government plays in our everyday lives, as a direct result of the sacrifices made by first responders and their families, disintegrate into the same endless battles about the size of the government that we need. Even though the answer to that question is obvious: In a democracy, the size that the people decide it should have, for the purposes they choose to pursue. People. Not money. And yet, with each passing day, we continue to confuse the two more and more.
Perhaps worst of all, we have allowed the religion and ethnicity of the hijackers to reinforce--and perhaps, to some extent, revive--the bigotry towards people of color and religions other than Christianity that existed long before Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal. (Even that limitation to "men," and the omission of a clause denouncing slavery, is a testament to that existence.) We have, in fact, carried that bigotry to the point that we are presently caging children, and allowing them to die, for the sake of a security that does not need to be obtained by those means, which should never be tried in the first place.
And the fear that allows a sizable minority of Americans to make war on anyone who doesn't look, sound, or act like "them" is also allowing moneyed interests--here and elsewhere--to distract us from taking care of each other, and to take from us the means by which to build a better society, and line their already overstuffed pockets with it.
How did we get here?
As Democratic Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg pointed out, by forgetting how we felt on September 12, 2001. When we felt we were willing to work together at any cause to protect each other, and to rebuild a better America from the ruins of the attacks. When we looked at each other and saw allied Americans, not partisan enemies. When, for a moment, we understood the fact that, in a democracy, the only opponent who could defeat us was ourselves.
And then, slowly but surely, we set out on the path to defeat. By outsourcing our willingness to sacrifice to an all-volunteer army. By believing in an long-discredited theory about self-paying tax cuts. By failing to understand that we are not fighting a race, or a religion, but an ideology that can only be undermined from within, not by fighting on the front lines, but through covert operations that get inside the other sides' operations and planning, and take it apart far more effectively that a clip of bullets ever could.
I'll be blunt. All of this is due in part to a lack of political leadership at all levels of this country, and there is blame on both sides for that lack of leadership. But, far more importantly, it's due to us.
To all of us.
For failing to go beyond jingoistic, once-a-year graphics on social media to stay engaged in what is obviously a complex, stress-inducing issue, and to be willing to give more in time and in treasure. For failing to understand that when a nation goes to war, the whole nation goes to war, and does whatever it has to do to win it. It shouldn't take an entertainer masquerading as a journalist to remind us of our most basic obligations to serve and protect us. But, apparently, it does.
Most of all, for failing to understand what our enemies understand: that fear is a weapon, and it can be weaponized against a nation like ours, one that has taken a long holiday from history in terms of understanding what it takes to protect a civilization, and the ideas that built it.
The War on Terror, as it has been called, will require paying for the government services that protect us on the front lines, and operate behind them and within the enemy camp itself to undermine and ultimately defeat them. It will require political leadership that both requires that level of sacrifice, and offers transparency with regard to its own actions in leading the fight. Perhaps most of all, it will require us to pay not only with our wallets, but also with our hearts. The last thing that terrorists want is an America that continuously strives to live up to its ideals of equality and freedom. They want an America filled with fear, willing to give up those ideals forever if doing so will buy even a little bit of safety.
It won't buy any at all.
We are at the precipice of destruction by our enemies, despite all of the annual exhortations to "Never Forget." We have, sadly, forgotten what we felt on September 12, the day after. We desperately need to remember it, before we let indulgence and fear consume our existence, our legacy, and our place in history.
In other words, before the terrorists have won.
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