9/11 Ten Years On

Overseas here in HK, this is not the big news story, of course, that it is in the US. Nevertheless, it is in the news. The anniversary of 9/11 remains significant given how its aftermath affected the world--a two front war that has resulted in thousands and thousands of casualties that effectively, solved nothing and divided nations and people. Then came economic recession. And we are still left in relative confusion. We, the United States, remain a powerful country that has yet to figure out how it will navigate the 21st century. In many ways, this is what 9/11 came to be, the division of the America of the past, and the one, still unfolding, still undefined, of the 21st century.

The event, the largest domestic terrorism act in the US, was horrific in and of itself, but what marked it further, was the aspect of it being live on television--viewers watched the tower(s) fall, and people dive to their deaths. I was watching the report of the first one when the second one came down, live on television. There were email accounts sent around of people from the City and what they did and where they were when it happened. I flew back to the Bay Area a few days after from Memphis. The airport was completely empty.

It was such a terrible act, there are no excuses, but unfortunately, our government launched a war that could never, and can never be won ("War on Terror"). Looking back, I recall the many people, who instead of calling for a careful examination of our foreign policy in the name of those who died, the innocents who died, instead called for vengeance and hatred. To respect those who lost their lives, we, as a nation, should have proceeded more cautiously and pragmatically. Instead our government--our supposed representatives who had NOT A SINGLE MEMBER of their FAMILY in ACTIVE DUTY COMBAT, sent American troops to die, pressured other nations to join, and thus began the tragedy of thousands of innocent civilians dying on another continent.

In the name of those who died on 9/11, we should also remember those who died in its aftermath, Americans and non. And we should remember that any act of war, is also an act of terrorism.

RIP to those who died on 9/11.

RIP to all those who died in the years following as a result of 9/11.