Show of hands, how many people are offended by the title alone? It's a rhetorical question, so please don't answer that. There isn't an American in the world that doesn't remember exactly where they were when they heard that some horrific tragedy happened in New York. I didn't quite understand it at the time, I woke up somewhere around 2 PM that afternoon, next to my girlfriend who I was helping move to a new apartment.
I was in her father's car, when someone turned on the radio, but no music. Only reporting about the trade centers falling, a plane crashing into the pentagon, and admittedly I wasn't awake enough to really comprehend everything I was hearing. A few hours later, it was clear to me what was going on. I turn on the TV and not a single station was not reporting on the crisis. Terrorist attacks...a guy name Bin Laden, a pile of rubble, who would have ever thought this would happen here?
The sleeping giant awoke...
It is common for those of us to honor the first responder, those that heroically charged into a tower in flames to save lives, and believe me they deserve our thanks. It is also common to thank the soldiers that fought the wars that would follow, some of which still are, and they definitely deserve respect. But the terrorist? Is there something we should thank them for? Did they, when they assaulted the freedom of 300 million American's, inadvertently do something that actually helped our country?
No doubt politically we are a divided nation. A session in congress these days looks like a messy celebrity divorce, one of which has become reality show of every major news network. There is not a news channel in the world that doesn't weigh in their opinion on some major crisis that our nation's leaders are divided on. Once upon a time, only the politically devout understood what it meant to be on the left or right wing, but these days these are common buzz words in everyone's vocabulary.
We are a nation divided on everything, not because we don't agree on what the problems are (in most cases,) but because we don't agree on the solutions to the problems. In this day and age, not only does a solution have to be presented, but the other side of the fence must bow to other giving absolute control. Most of us stand somewhere in the middle, we subscribe to the hidden third party of this country, neither liberal nor conservative, but saying let's do what makes sense. It seems that a commitment to harmony and the struggle that exists to create that harmony just doesn't make good reality TV for the major news networks.
Christian? Muslim? Jew? Everyone has an opinion about that. Once again, a system is held hostage. It's not okay to just believe in a higher morality, which in my opinion God is supposed to represent, it also matters how you believe and should it not align with the moral majority, you don't belong.
But not today. This, one day out of the year, those things don't matter. For 24 hours our war against ourselves is suspended, because on 9/11 we were all in this together. Left, Right, it doesn't matter. We are united in mourning for those that died in 2001. We are in mourning for those that survived the loss of their husbands, wives, and children. We don't care what God you pray to, if you pray to one at all, nor do we care what book you get your religious facts from. Today we are united on one thing; that terrorists took the lives of nearly 3000 people. They didn't care what we believed in, just that we were Americans and we deserved to pay for whatever perceived atrocities we may have committed.
When those planes crashed into the towers, EMT's, Fire Fighter's, Police Officer's, regardless of their political affiliations, or religious convictions, just did their jobs, and many died for it. We have terrorists to thank for that, but we also have to look in the face of evil and say thank you. If you're still reading this in disbelief saying ," Who would possibly thank terrorists?" I would! Because today, for at least 24 hours, every American is united in a cause, and today the job will get done. Today, we recognize that a terrorist attack against American's, our political convictions, our religious beliefs, and our cultural difference don't matter. We are all American's, mourning for victims' of an atrocity committed by Middle Eastern terrorists, and as a result we recognize that we have 300 million brothers and sisters we must support.
If that message is not clear today, then I don't know what is. Today we are united and that message is what needs to permeate into tomorrow, and the day after that.
So at this time I would like to say: Thank you Osama Bin Laden. As a result of the terrorist attack that you orchestrated and executed 10 years ago today, we recognize the gift of a United nation, one that for 24 hours, at least, can put down their differences and be one. We recognize that the 3000 people you killed that day did not die for nothing, but to remind us that, no matter what, we are American and our enemy is you; a person who thought it appropriate to kill innocent people to make a point...whatever that point may have been. However, you have failed in making that point. As you lie dead somewhere in the Indian ocean, you should recognize that we are not afraid and that we stand, as one today, to mourn the people who have died and that shows the promise of a country that is still able to unite when it is necessary to stand and do right by all other Americans. Thank you, for reminding us of our strength, and why hate will never prevail.
Sincerely Yours,
Arriving Somewhere, but not Here
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