Seven years ago this morning, the Twin Towers came down and a plane flew into the Pentagon. It was a surreal morning. I thought the person who first told me was joking.
In the days that followed I think everyone was paranoid that there were Islamic terrorist cells all over the country about to launch attacks everywhere. The then mayor of Marion had cement baracades put around the courthouse to keep them from launching an attack.
It was a great tragedy. A couple thousand people died for no reason, a little man taking out his frustration for the fact that his understanding of religion was not in power in the world.
Today we remember them and their deaths. They were people like you and me, at the wrong time and the wrong place. They were like the much larger numbers in Rwanda or Darfur or Serbia or the Holocaust who were killed because they were from the wrong race, for no valid reason. They were like the much larger numbers of innocent civilians in Iraq who have been caught in the civil war that followed the dethroning of Saddam Hussein, killed either in the cross-fire or because they were the wrong ethnic group, for no valid reason.
We have not let them die in vain if we value those innocents around the world who face similar death and oppression for no reason, if we are their friend to the degree we are able.
The Twin Towers are a reminder that the United States is not invincible, that we can bleed. And the time since has taught us that no amount of force we can muster can stamp out this particular kind of enemy. We are not all powerful. We need others, other nations and we need to convince those in the middle that we are more worthy than our enemies.
The days after 9-11 were a very rare opportunity for the world to look at itself and become a better place. For a brief moment in time, we had the world's ears and sympathies. It is not too late for us to find in this memory a vision for a better world and a bigger world.
The virtuous response is not a retreat into nationalism or a quest for vengeance. I am not saying that we should not seek to bring the perpetrators to justice. What I am saying is that our response should be to identify with all the innocent in the world who suffer at the hands of the evil and the misguided and not think that, in God's eyes, an American death is more atrocious than a child killed in the jungles of Africa for his kidney.
And it is more important for us to keep today's children in the world from becoming tomorrow like those who act against the innocent than it is to kill the terrorists themselves. It is more important to change those who can be changed and influence those who can be influenced than to kill those who can't in the name of vengeance. Then maybe tomorrow, we won't have anything to seek vengeance for--our friends will stop these sorts of enemies for us before they even reach our borders.
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8 comments:
Certainly, most of us would want a better world, one world, at peace. But, if this is the ideal, is this possible and probable? That is where all of us diverge.
I have mentioned the book before,"Infidel", written by a woman who was raised as a Muslim, is now at the American Enterprise Institute and served on the Dutch Parliament. (She was actually the one who collaborated with the Dutch movie producer on "Submission", and who was slaughtered on an Amsterdam street. She was next on their "hit list".) You may not want to believe that Islam has some really terrible "doctrines", but the reality is that it does. Did you see the "video" that showed actual footage of Islamic practices and "preaching", that was briefly on the internet, until it was pulled off. I think Wim sent it to Jerry Pattengale...This is no joke, when people think they do God's service and know God's will, no matter what the color or religion...it is dangerous...fundamentalism that is identified politically is nothing more than a "facist" ideology...The woman from "Infidel" says that there is NO way to reason with these radicals. She is an atheist and is working against any religion in our schools, as she says Islam's political goal is to use religious freedom and minority rights to infilterate the West and gain ground...Wim's brother-in-law collaborated what this woman said, because he was a Christian school principal back in the 70's when the first immigrants from Morroco and Turkey came to the Netherlands...and his family followed Ali's story (the lady from Infidel) when her citzenship was being questioned and she was on the Dutch Parliament. Ali is still a Dutch citizen. Her story is one of courage, strength, and commitment to the values of freedom, but not at the cost of "tolerance"...
I do have a heart for unity for all nations, but I think it will be through political, not religious ideals...I admire Hans Kung and his "Global Ethic". But, I am too cynical to believe it is possible on a global scale. European unification is a battle of sorts, because of the difference in culture, language, etc. And we are talking about Western countries that are not that far apart in their "worldview". And, Yes, it would be "ideal" to imagine a world where no one died and starvation, disease and war disappeared, but that is not the real world.And for those whose burden is there, "great". We will differ as to how to make this world a better place. It is all where you are convinced about priorities, and convictions. A "one world" is an "ideal" one. Aren't you a "realist"?
There are many Muslims who can be reasoned with and must be. We cannot kill them all. Our actions in Iraq have not diminished Muslim extremism. They have multiplied it tenfold.
I did not intend to give the impression that I am hawish in my views. That is the radical's view. our difference is in how to deal with the radicals. Radicalism is NOT rational, when it comes to religion. There is an indoctrination, as in cult, that is prejudiced at core. When someone is indoctrinated so young, it is hard for reason to overcome. This is religious commitment to indoctrinate, as the Catholic Church believes, the Wesleyans, believe, the fundamentalist of any faith. Ali verifies this struggle in coming to terms with her "fears" in "Infidel". This is shy she titled the book "Infidel"...Us/Them thinking is ethnocentrism, and religious intolerance...prejuidice is raised on the heels of the parents...And, though it may sound prejuidicial, I think that we need to reassess what is really true about their belief system...They do believe that it is appropriate to lie to the "infidel" for their ends...It is OT radicalization...A man named Ramadan was at the Spain Metnexus conference and was discoursing with a Anglican woman priest, moderated by William Grassie, an American ex-pres of Metanexus.
This man is the grandson of the originator of "Islamic Brotherhood". This is a group that has ties to radical political groups, such as PLO. He was given tenure track position at Notre Dame but was not allowed in the country because of his giving to the PLO...he is an Islamic scholar and lives in Brussels...Christopher Hitchens (God is Not Great) and Ali mention him in "Infidel".
By the way, the sad thing, is that the multicultural group at this conference, all intellectuals, laughed when Ramadan said something about his visa being terminated from giving to the PLO. If we believe in "God"'s moral order as our Founding Fathers did, then, this way of resolving conflict is unacceptable. Revolution usurps the ordered structures of society. Reform should seek to question from within these structures and not destroy them....
This post is worthy of publication, I think.
"A couple thousand people died for no reason, a little man taking out his frustration for the fact that his understanding of religion was not in power in the world."
Undoubtedly the killing was tragic. Undoubtedly it has changed the face of international politics significantly. But I do think to narrate 9/11 as "a little man taking out his frustration for the fact that his understanding of religion was not in power in the world" is to significantly misconstrue the much more complex question of Muslim extremism. Furthermore, it is only a caricature of Osama bin Laden that is not terribly helpful in actually understanding what happened on that day.
His own stated goal was precisely what America claims to be doing in responding militantly to the attacks: to rid the world of evil. Thus, the attacks were aimed at the locations where Al Qaeda sees the operation of world evil - i.e. both the centers of world trade and the Pentagon. In a video in 2003, bin Laden stated, "While I was looking at these destroyed towers [by a US-aided Israeli bombardment] in Lebanon, it sparked in my mind that the tyrant should be punished with the same and that we should destroy towers in America, so that it tastes what we taste and would be deterred from killing our children and women...If Bush says we hate freedom, let him tell us why we didn't attack Sweden, for example. It is known that those who hate freedom do not have dignified souls."
To acknowledge that the 9/11 attacks were not arbitrary or completely unprovoked does not denigrate the deaths of those innocent killed. Nor does it suggest that the killings were justified, righteous, or any other absurd and ludicrous predicate. They were not. But America's response to 9/11 reveals America's amnesia, as well as its own complicity in the very kind of acts that America condemns in others. It is not without reason that certain Iraqi civilians have called Bush and Americans like him "Christian extremists." Violent extremism is by no means exclusive to Islam, and there is perhaps no more dangerous "power" in the world today than the relatively recent emergence in world history of nationalism, and national identity. It is always a dangerous thing when the flag and our allegedly just causes get wrapped together...
"What I am saying is that our response should be to identify with all the innocent in the world who suffer at the hands of the evil and the misguided and not think that, in God's eyes, an American death is more atrocious than a child killed in the jungles of Africa for his kidney."
Oh, and I do think this sentence is particularly beautiful. Didn't want to give the impression I stopped reading the post after the first few lines. :)
I have no doubt but that there have been missteps in the past and inattention on our part that have contributed to the Middle East situation. I forget the movie about our involvement in the Afghanistan conflict with the USSR where we basically handed the place on a platter to the Taliban after we abruptly left.
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