measi's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Am I just an insensitive clod? I must have struck a chord-- while I've had no guestbook entries, I've received five angry emails about my entry earlier this morning. Interesting... Well, here's my response on things-- freeverse, as always... So many people today are weeping and mourning. On the radio this morning, a caller said that if September 11th didn't affect an individual, that individual had no soul. Well, what about those of us who are moving on with our lives, and just don't feel the need to grieve today? With so many people grieving, those of us who aren't look like assholes. Does this mean that I have no soul? Most of the stuff I'm hearing about September 11th is drawing juvenile eye-rolling attempts from my brain and anger at how clich�d this patriotism is. It's fashionable to mourn the deaths of September 11th. It's a sickeningly "in" thing. And the media has jumped on it-- simply because everyone allows them to. America is not united. We haven't been since the moment the attacks took place. Muslims in America were immediately cast as enemies, even though our President put on the good front that we were supposed to not treat them as such. Of course, he thinks they're all evil, based on his increasing need to go blow the shit out of Islamic countries. Since September 11th, the battle lines of Us vs. Them have been drawn strongly. If you're not a monotheist of Judeo-Christian persuasion, you're an outsider. Your faith is not welcome, nor wanted. Your views about discomfort about all of the "God Bless America" in some way, shape, or form, is not welcome. So shut up and put up, or get the hell out. I've seen my share of trendy little flags, either attached to car antennas or stuck into back windows. Some are disgustingly tattered and need to be thrown away, since they're now a sign of disrespect for America. I want to ask the people who put these flags on their cars, or who make a point to mourn today-- if you are old enough, did you vote last November? Are you, as of September 11, 2002, registered to vote in your local elections this autumn? If you aren't, I question your flag-waving and pledge to never forget 9-11. I sure as hell didn't see a lot of people at the polls. I realized then how superficial all of this is. How many of you who donated blood last September have given even a drop since? Did you realize how badly the Red Cross and other donor services were needing blood come Christmas-time last year, when all of that 9-11 blood had to be thrown away? How many of you have taunted someone who objects to the words "under God" in the pledge of allegiance, calling them un-american because they state an opinion that you do not agree with? How many of you have protested Ashcroft's subtle attempts to gain full power over every American's right to privacy? How many of you have thought about how the children who lose parents over in Afghanistan and other Islamic countries are going to feel about America? Sure, we're getting rid of terrorists for *now*. What about twenty years from now when some of these children are older, having grown up with a building hatred of the people who killed their parents? How many of you have realized that people other than Americans died that day? How many of you know that 9/11/01 was NOT the bloodiest day on mainland soil in American history? And if you did, can you name the place it happened? And on what day? (Antietam in Maryland... September 17, 1862). Sure, I feel anger about what happened. I feel sadness about what happened. But nothing I do can rebuild those towers to what they looked like on September 10, 2001. Nothing can bring back the lives of those who died. The only thing that can be done is to continue living. Constant grieving does not help. Pledging to never forget September 11th is, while currently an expected thing in our society, an act that has lost its meaning. It's impossible to forget tragedy. But in time, the memory softens. This is not a bad thing. It means that the person who remembers can move past it and live life. Dwelling on the day will not help-- and can only hurt. Life needs to be lived. 2:42 p.m. - 11 September 2002 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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