A lot more was lost on that fateful day than can ever be tallied accurately. Not only were thousands of lives lost, but, we have slowly lost our way as a nation since then.
I am reminded as I pass through Ground Zero that our collective wound is bare. It is open to all the harsh realities of the world: the tempestuous rains, the driving winds, the cold of winter and the searing sun. This reality is more than the still gaping hole in the ground, it bores one right into our psyche.
We all have this shared memory of where we were and how we felt that day; whether you were one of the buildings or awoken from your slumber in California. Most of us have not yet dealt with the resulting PTSD, war stories, casualties and conflicts only dig out the sores and compund the disorder.
We now want to judge which religion is good and safe. Those not deemed safe are to be barred from hallow ground. When the words Muslim and Islam are taken as slurrs and must be suffixed by "but" with a "positive" statement, we have not yet healed. When we retread "old favorites" such as burning books, we have not yet healed.
I believe that we won't heal unless we try to understand eachother by attending each other's houses of worship: temples, mosques and churches to name a few. The more we interact with eachother, the more we get to know our neighbhors the harder it is to hate. We find more points of commonality than difference. Perhaps that fateful day will be to first point of commonality and first chance at peace.
2 comments:
i agree with all that but still felt compelled to write this...
don't YOU hate our neighbor? maybe you should find some points of commonality with him??
He's total douche, I don't have things in common with douches.
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