Ten years gone on Sunday and we can still recall the images, burned into our national retinas, the pain as immediate as if the wreckage still smoldered at Ground Zero.
We can still see the panicked survivors running for their lives through the streets of Manhattan as the World Trade Center crumbled behind them; their faces painted gray with the dust of destruction. We can still see the signs New Yorkers plastered on billboard and lampposts, looking for lost loved ones like they were advertising a yard sale.
We remember the fire department spokesman, disbelieving, saying into the microphone shoved into his face, “We lost tons of guys in there… tons of guys.”
Coming up on this anniversary we have watched commentators across the political spectrum rush to get their opinions out in front of us as though their hot air would do anything to move the needle.
We don’t feel anything but pain. As a stand-alone event, Sept. 11 is like Memorial Day, only without the honor.
In the 10 years since, we have the seen the best and worst of ourselves. Ten years ago in Lincoln County, a boot drive sponsored by local fire departments raised more than $76,000 in a matter of days for relief efforts.
People lined up to give blood, so much so that the Red Cross ended up scheduling people weeks in advance to take their donation. It wasn’t much, but it was something and in those days everybody wanted to do something, anything they could do to help.
Also in the years since, Americans have kicked law abiding American citizens off planes because they looked suspiciously Muslim, howled in outrage because a religious organization had the temerity to suggest building a mosque near Ground Zero and we have never bothered to count all the innocent Iraqi or Afghani dead.
Nothing feels good about 9/11. Nothing feels right. We need to remember our 21st century Day of Infamy because the dead don’t deserve to be forgotten, but remembering is not a cause for celebration. Like few other events in our history, 9/11 brought us together but sadly, in many ways, it has left us torn apart.
