September 11th

It was a beautiful day, warm and sunny. It was the kind of day that people love to enjoy in this time of September. Not too hot, not cold at all. Just right.

I was going to a day long retreat in Tiffin, Ohio at the home of the President of our Association. One of the women came into the meeting and said that a plane had crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center. Having grown up on the sunny side of that river I immediately thought of my trips to the top of that tower and how much fun it was to watch the little planes flying below us down the Hudson River. My first thought was that one of them had lost control and flew into the tower. But then we heard it was an airliner and then the second tower was hit. Obviously something huge was up.

As I watched the towers burn all I could think about was how difficult those fires were going to be to put out. I never gave it a thought that the towers would collapse. Two more planes went down. The beautiful day turned ugly.

Six years have passed and people still invoke "Remember 9/11" but I wonder what that means.

There was a strong sense of national tragedy and national unity following that ugly day. Our nation's leaders stood together and said that this would not go without vengeance. Six years later the mastermind of 9/11 is still making video tapes.

Our nation stood together with the world. We have become increasingly isolated in those years.

I remember Rosie O'Donnell on The View literally shouting that the collapse of the towers was actually orchestrated by the Bush Administration and that there was no way those towers could have or would have collapsed without having bombs planted inside. Rosie's convenient overlooking of the local (NYC region) academics conclusion about the incredible amount of fuel causing a fire hotter that imagined would and did cause such a collapse.

Six years after the fact I wonder.

The last time the United States had been attacked in such a way was on December 7, 1941, a 'day that will live in infamy.' FDR promised that those who did this to us would pay and Congress declared war on Japan. Almost immediately Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. We were going to be at war with different enemies in different parts of the world.

What many people fail to realize is that on December 7, 1941 the United States was not a super-power. Our armed forces were not as large as Germany's or Japan's and our equipment, most especially fighter planes, were mostly obsolete. The President's promise and Congress's declaration of war, and the subsequent declaration of war on us was going to make life very costly and very difficult. Many would die, and great sacrifices would need to be, and were, made.

On December 7, 1947, six years later, the United States was a super-power. We had not only defeated our enemies, but with great charity and compassion, we were helping to rebuild a shattered world. Millions of people across Europe and Asia were living in peace and freedom because our soldiers were willing to fight on other nation's soil, and give the country back to the original owners. Tom Brokaw would write a book and say that the Americans of that time and place proved to be the greatest generation. He might be right. They demonstrated courage, fierceness, loyalty, and ultimately great compassion to a shattered world.

It would be easy to blame everything on George W. Bush. He is well on his way to being blamed for everything including the great scurvy outbreak in the 19th Century---taking that burden off of Jimmy Carter. President Bush has banked his entire Presidency and legacy on the war in Iraq as the war on terrorism. Personally, I think it has proven to be a diversion to the war on terrorism but I may be wrong. He might be as well. In 1947 we knew that we were not going to be attacked by Germany or Japan and we cannot say that the terrorists will not strike us here again. In fairness, fighting a war on terrorism is fighting an insurgency, and ultimately fighting against a moving target with phantom like qualities. What we face continues to be daunting.

We have proven, as a nation, to be unable to deal with natural disasters. The carnage of Katrina is still very much present.

Economically the deficit is higher than ever before. The poor are getting poorer. In observing our Soup Kitchen it has grown a great deal in the lasst year or so. People are losing homes across the country, many victims of aggressive and deceptive lending practices----and forgetting the adage if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

And, politically, the big news is that Larry Craig's foot wandered into the next stall. Two major stories on the TV news last night were about the further adventures of Larry Craig and that Britney did not lip-sync very well, had abysmal dance moves (I think that they were dance moves) and looked paunchy in her bikini.

We can blame whomever we want for the state we are in now, but perhaps the first place we ought to examine is our mirrors. When all people want to deal with is the silly and ridiculous that is all they will deal with.

In 1947, six years after the fact, the United States was rebuilding the world and was seen as a great and heroic nation.

In 2007, six years after the fact, the United States has little respect in the world, and is focused on foot tapping in bathroom stalls.

We can blame whomever we want. I suggest first we look at our mirrors if we want to find out what is wrong.