Valerie Schultz: This 9/11, honor the best of America
| Monday, Sep 14 2009 05:59 PM
Last Updated Monday, Sep 14 2009 06:01 PM
It's hard to believe, unless you lost a loved one on that nightmarish day in 2001, that the multiple tragedies of Sept. 11 happened eight years ago. Time flies for those who are not in mourning for a friend, a spouse, a parent, a sibling, or a child.
A lot has changed since 2001. Kids in high school now were only 7 or 8 years old then. The wider world of which they are aware has always been one of terror alerts and random bombings, of taking off your shoes and throwing away your liquids at the airport, of heated debates about torture and war.
When our oldest daughter graduated from high school in June 2001, many of her fellow graduates joined the military with the expectations of superior career training and excellent education benefits. They did not anticipate being sent to fight and perhaps die in Afghanistan or Iraq. The current crop of graduates must think of them as naive beyond belief.
And perhaps we all were.
"I believe," I wrote in the September 2002 monthly Parentwise section of this paper, during my first year as a columnist, "there are things that we can do to honor those who perished. Actually, one thing: live. Live in conscious memory of those who are no longer with us, and do the things they would have liked to do, that they meant to do. Do them for them, and do them today. Call your grandma. Help out a struggling single mother. Write that letter to the editor. Read to your kids tonight. Rescue a puppy today. Go for a walk. Volunteer everywhere you've always told yourself you'll volunteer when you have time. Give blood for no specific disaster. Smile at every checker. Vote in every election, no matter how ridiculous. Don't ever tell another gay or ethnic joke. Say every positive thing you think. Set a date for the important thing you've been putting off. Teach what you love. Read your horoscope, and do whatever it says. I'm serious: really do it!"
I haven't taken my own advice very well: there are still so many things that I had every intention of accomplishing after the shattering events of Sept. 11, 2001, but have let wait for another, more convenient time. I've become complacent. I've become cynical. In doing so, I have not honored the memory of the Americans who died on that day.
Politically, we have done even worse by the sacred souls of those we lost on Sept. 11. We have used their murders as a tool to advance political agendas and power grabs. Various factions have wrapped their partisan goals in the flag of Sept. 11 to legitimize them. Many of these exhibitions, far from patriotic, have been cause for national shame. In eight years, we have used unspeakable violence against many people who are not our enemies. We have betrayed our core principles. We continue to fight wars that will never bring peace. The thousands who died on Sept. 11 have been joined by many more thousands of dead, and the global problem of terrorism still eludes a solution.
We can only honor our dead by allowing their unwitting sacrifice to open our eyes to ways to work for lasting peace, and by making sure that we as a nation stand for justice for all. Surely we Americans can agree to start there. Surely we can invoke the guiding lights of our fallen to help us chart a course towards a future that our better selves dream of, one of peace and kindness, of integrity and compassion, of enlightenment and love.
Opinions expressed in this column are those of Valerie Schultz, not The Bakersfield Californian.
