All that remains of those who died that day is us. We are all they are now. It’s only over if we forget.
The problem with 9/11 is that was an initial enemy attack that only killed 2900 people in a war that may have cost at most 90,000 lives with only 7100 of those American in the last 7 years.
So it will not only be forgotten or reduced to a minor note like “BTW, today is Dec 6th, the 66th anniverary of Pearl Harbor. And on to the big Brad Pitt news..” – not only will it be forgotten, but forgotten faster than past major events or commemorations. Few Americans now mark Appotomax ending the War that cost 660,000 American lives in a population 1/8th our present size. Or Armistice Day. Or the “never-to-be-forgotten” Death of JFK and the Challenger astronauts. The days of hours of TV coverage of Jackie at the Eternal Flame, all the hagiolgraphy of our Greatest President had faded out by the mid-70s. The moment of enforced silence at the moment the Space Shuttle blew up faded before even Reagan forgot it.
The anniversary of Lindhberg’s flight lasted about a decade as something to celebrate. Same with the Moon Landing. Already, in NYC, the people are showing signs of “enough with the Mournathon! New Yorkers are saying enough with the politician’s Panderfests every Sept 11th, enough with the delays at the Pit (soon renamed from “The Hallowed Place”), enough with the Bushist “you MUST support the Neocons and more wars against Evildoers” trope.
Nationally, fading is best seen in the political capital of “Mr. 9/11″ Rudy Giuliani. Back in 2002, 2004 he was feared and a top fundraiser. By 2008, his 9/11 “We Will Never Forget!!” and all other issues are insignificant compared to the 9/11 response, message, was read nationally as an historical artifact. Rudy bombed and became an object of derision for how many times he milked 9/11 in a speech or in response to any question asked of him on any subject.
Right now, 9/11 is still im memory, but we should be using the day not to read out lists of the dead and glorifying “The Heroes” but as a time of Lessons Learned. What did we do or not do prior to 9/11 that made us more vulnerable, how are we fixing those flaws? In the 7 years after 9/11, our 1st response that was stubbornly not modified when confronted with inconvenient facts – and inept Bush implemetation – has split the country and caused tremendous problems for us here and abroad. Most strategic thinkers believe the world has become a far more dangerous place since 9/11 and US power has shrunk significantly since that day in September. What has to be fixed?
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Eggplant – nice post.
Bush: “Future generations will see our response to 9/1 as the , err, defining moment of our era.
Questioner: “What are you calling on the average citizen to do, Mr. President.”
Bush: “They need to keep travelling, Enjoy their tax cut on a vacation. And shop. And do something nice for a neighbor.”
Galvanized by this Churchillian challenge, Americans flashed their easy credit cards backed by houses that never went down in value. And spent. And spent, and spent – on anything China could make. And invited the asshole 3 houses over for a hot dog and beer on the 4th for a few years.
