Many people today are remembering the events of 5 years ago. It is something that I do think about quite often, and it’s hard not to with the talk about it in the news these days, and I wasn’t directly affected by the events of 9/11. I don’t know anyone that died or families that were anywhere close to the events on that day, but I believe that, myself included, most people in America were somehow affected by these events. Many have taken to anger, many to remorse, many to confusion and concern. There are so many views about what happened that day and the years to follow. It’s the number one political issue in this fall’s congressional campaigns even 5 years later. But with that I’ve become somewhat disturbed at how people use the memories of this day as a way to point fault, blame, and disgust at others. I don’t really care about everyone’s personal view on how we should be handling things after 9/11 as everyone is perfectly entitled to their own opinion and others should respect that. I think that anyone that was old enough to really be affected by these events will carry the memory of where they were and what they were doing that morning with them for the rest of their lives. It’s not something you can forget.
I remember having to do a paper in school many years ago where we had to interview someone about a historically significant event. At the time we were coming close to the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and I remember asking my Grandma what she remembered about that day. It happened to be her sixteenth birthday and she described where she was and what she felt with such great detail. You could tell that it had stuck with her for her whole life and in some way changed her. I’m sure all of us today will carry these memories in much the same way.
Days like that should not be forgotten, nor should they be used for other gains. These days belong to the people that were affected by them, no matter how small or how great. I have my beliefs on what we should be doing to protect America and the events that followed 9/11 and I know everyone else has their own view on these same topics. All I ask is that we don’t forget, but we stop using these events to attack and lay blame as we have been since that day. Everyone in America deserves to participate in this, the most grand of all societies, in an equal and fair way. We can not include some while excluding others as the country that we cherish so much will become something no one will want to be a part of. This country and what it stands for is too important to all of us to forget that the stranger standing next to you is just as important in making America what it is as the person with the same beliefs as you.
I know this sounds preachy, but I truly believe that most people that live in America have the same basic pride in this country as everyone else and we spend more time trying to alienate a larger group of people for the problems caused by a minority of their group. I don’t personally know many people that are minorities or from backgrounds not similar to main-stream America because of the place that I live. This is a very sad fact and I worry that my children will grow up not knowing how diverse this country really is as I grew up knowing. I wish there were opportunities for this diverseness everywhere in the country as we could all learn to appreciate how special the histories and traditions of others really are.
So, on this day, I ask you to stop and think about where you were five years ago and think about what you can do to ensure that you spread your history and traditions with others from different backgrounds while at the same time learning something from them. With that we can all still hold our individual beliefs while expanding our understanding of what makes this country so great.
Thank you to everyone, past and present, that has served our nation in the name of freedom, thank you to all of the courageous people that have come here looking for a better life and bringing something new to this country, and thank you to all of those that have come to terms with the fact that only a small group of people truly do hate what we stand for and have done something to show others that they are not to blame.
I will remember those that have fallen and what this day means to all Americans. I hope you do as well
