if you thought that I was going to avoid the whole 9/11 elephant in the room, you are incorrect.
I love addressing elephants in the room, beating dead horses, and telling both sides that they are wrong, mean and stupid. Disclaimer: I think that most people are mean, wrong and stupid. For some reason, I like people anyway.
9/11 is a tricky subject. Tricky in that we have somehow managed to politicize death, and one of the worst examples is this, as it is largely seen as more of a political statement than a human tragedy some ten years later.
First off, I don't like to dip my toes in other people's tragedy. When 9/11 happened, I was ten. I remember being very annoyed that recess was cancelled, and very confused that many of my teachers had itchy red eyes that day. I remember my mother turning off the TV after about fifteen shots of the buildings crashing down were shown in succession
I don't remember feeling sad. I was, after all, ten years old. I did not know a single person who lived in New York City, and I did not know where Afghanistan, Iraq or the bulk of the Middle East were. "Terrorist Cell" probably sounded like a computer game to me, perhaps a really intense version of Oregon Trail.
This is to say, in many ways, 9/11 was not a part of my world, except to that what I saw on television centered around the event, and every year afterward some teacher would ask the "where were you when" question.
Of course the issue is complicated, as is every issue.
9/11 was my introduction to the history of systematic, seemingly constant flow of violent massacres worldwide. I was 10, after all. Previously, my understanding of complex political and religious agendas was essentially nil, and thank goodness for that. A little reprieve from that kind of knowledge is not the worst thing you can do for a youngster. Teach kindness first. Save the violence for middle school.
But now we are so clever. Our heads are full of this secret knowledge that was always there. People die unfairly everywhere, so why glorify one day? The United States never gets bombed because we do the killing first. We are bullies, and we got what we deserved. After all, what is one act of tragedy in comparison to the thousands of atrocities that are committed every day? Where are the parades in honor of that? Why don't they ship Paul Simon to Darfur every year so that he can play the Sound of Silence there? Where is the equality of outrage?
or, on the other side of the spectrum: 9/11 is an example of how the rest of the world is jealous, and to sate that jealousy, we paid the price of needless lives. America is the best, strongest country in the world because we managed to get over this event, pull through, pull together, and kill those terrorists.
Should we constantly post flags of the Twin Towers in our yards and fly them rain or shine to constantly memorialize a morbid and complicated tragedy from our recent history? Probably not, especially if your level of involvement in the situation is equal to mine. Like I said, I don't like to dip my toes in other people's tragedies.
The way I see it? Life is going to throw you enough shit worth grieving for. People you love will die. People you love will leave you. Strangers will do the worst things to other strangers. You will have enough tattoos and scars and unshakeable memories of horrific unfairness. Sympathy is a virtue, and so is having a hand to offer those in need. Claiming a tragedy as your own for political, social--or really any gain compromises the validity of other people's suffering. Don't be that dick.Be pissed about 9/11, but stop "never againing" it to strangers on the subway when it is Tuesday at 5 and everyone just wants to go home.
On the other hand, while you are right, my intellectual and worldly friends, this is not the only day that we should remember in infamy, this was a real tragedy. This happened, and reminding all of us that this always happens does not counteract the overzealous behavior of your opposing forces. Do people overreact on this day? Of course they do.
Overreaction does not, however, negate tragedy. It makes one think harder about tragedy. It makes us more careful with our words.
It does not lessen the count of important, meaningful and worthwhile human lives that were lost on 9/11 in New York City, the lives lost in the ensuing war, and those lost in the wake of the tidal wave of the events that day.
American Airlines avoided much ceremony today. In the morning, we listened to a phone call placed by a flight attendant on American Airlines Flight 11. It is a suprisingly calm, fact-based report that "I think we are being hijacked. The purser has been stabbed, and I can't get to the first class galley to see what is going on." This information led to the early realization that this was not an accidental crash. By naming the seat numbers of the individuals she saw involved in the attack, the F/A also helped to connect the dots even more. Instead of calling her family to say goodbye, this flight attendant did her job up to the last moments of her life. She stayed calm, she did what she could.
And, as is tradition on Wednesdays, another class graduated from training. 12 years ago, American Airlines abruptly closed its training center, one day before a class was supposed to graduate. Training ceased entirely for 12 years afterward (with the exception of 30 mandarin speakers).
It started for the first time since then early this summer.
Today, 12 years ago, two of my instructors were teaching at the center, and witnessed the rapid shut down of the facility. The other two were on the line, New York based, and happened to have a lucky trip assignment or day off. Crew Scheduling works in mysterious ways.
I know that when people talk a big show on 9/11, it can be exasperating. But the quiet sadness in the eye of my least dramatic, least showy instructor as she exclaimed that it was "unbelievable" that flight attendants still go largely unnoticed for the work they did on that day was the closest I have ever been to the reality of the event in isolation.
It reminded me that having a stance on 9/11 on 9/11 is not quite a proper way to gauge your proficiency in American Government and 20th Century World Politics.
Politics aside, this is an event that happened. it happened to people. A lot People died. End of story.
Any strong aversion to violent death is a step in the right direction in my book, no matter how dumb I think your politics are. We can argue tomorrow. Today, I was sad that so many people died in such a horrible way on this day.
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