Curmudgeon's Corner

We’ve all gone through the question of…”Do you remember where you were when you learned about the attack?” Most of us can still answer it very specifically.

We are observing the sixth anniversary of an attack upon our country and our way of life such as we hadn’t witnessed since December 7, 1941. Do we really remember or have we gone on from there with only a faint recollection and a twinge from our conscience?

We came together as a people for weeks and maybe even months following the Trade Towers being toppled, the Pentagon being attacked and the crashing of a loaded airliner into a Pennsylvania field that together took the lives of some 3,000 of us. Our differences were put behind us where they belonged.

We began to be more aware of the threat we really faced. It took us longer to board airplanes. We took notice of things that seemed to be out of the ordinary. We saw our police and fire fighters and first responders practicing new tactics and techniques to thwart whatever our “enemy” would throw at us next.

Do we really remember?

The shock wore thin and we awoke one day to such a wide political division in our country that we have become largely ineffectual about our security except for our frontline defenders. We quarrel over every detail. Some have rewritten our history. Some have our own country being responsible for what befell us. We now see that division being played out before our eyes with an American General being called a liar by the same politicians who only months before had voted unanimously to approve his new post in Iraq. We see a full page advertisement in the New York Times calling the same General a betrayer…actually intended to make the reader think “traitor”.

Do we remember?

Our enemies must take great delight and strength from our internal bickering and political infighting. They must have moments of disbelief as they see us in our self-destruct mode. They must gain even greater satisfaction as they see our politicians pandering for votes at the expense of the citizenry. They must feel completely victorious as the political strife and inaction reach down to the level of our states.

Do we remember?

Our young men and women who have sacrificed their lives certainly remembered. Those who’ve lost limbs certainly remember. Those who are serving multiple tours in harms way certainly remember. Many of us citizens certainly remember. But many of us do not appear to have taken any lasting lessons from the experience, the horror, and the loss of life and suffering of 9/11/01.

Do we remember?

I fear that the answer is “not enough of us remember sufficiently to be willing to take the actions necessary to cause our politicians to once again do what we expect them to do for us while in those positions.”

I want to believe that “we the people” have not lost our will to defend ourselves, but that, instead, our elected officials now take more delight in besting one and other than doing our will. They do so at our expense.