Meanwhile, tomorrow along with all who mourn that terrible day, I will weep again. This time for a much more profound loss. The loss of what it meant to be an American. The loss of our core values. The erosion of fundamental rights and more. And the collateral damage just keeps on rising.

                                       Tomorrow is the day of remembrance for the 9-11 attacks. As always, for many people, this is a continued haunting reminder of the horror unleashed that day. For me, it is a scalding, tearing hurt that is so deep, it impacted my entire life in profound ways. Some of them positive.

                                         Because of this terrible event, my awareness of this world has increased a hundred fold over what it was. And there is within me, a determination not to run and evade the root causes for this attack. It’s too easy to just put this down to a bunch of fundamentalist zealots, who are misusing their religion for darker ends. There is some truth to this depiction of the people behind the attacks, but it’s only one small piece of the thing.

                                            The reasons are as old and pervasive as mankind itself. Hunger, despair, lack of potable water, disease and disenfranchisement.  We in the US and UK, enjoy a disproportionate share of the world’s wealth. Our standard of living is extremely high in comparison with the other 90% of this planet. Other countries see this, know we exploit their people and other resources to ensure our comfort, and they hate and resent us for it. The poorest of the poor, who have little hope of ever seeing their world improve then react with any weapon they can.  And they did,  and will continue to do so relentlessly, until they are heard.

                                                 This does not justify any form of terrorism. It never could, but in order to stop the hate, we must start being more globally aware of how others live. We are so selfish, so avid for the newest, best toys, we rarely stop to consider who made that new toy and at what cost. Our children in the main, reflect this appalling greed. Why not? They learned well from watching us. Unfortunately, they will bear the price for generations to come for this.

                                                Last night, as pictures from the Sudan, with it’s terrible conditions and acts of genocide , were shown on TV, my boys were glibly ignoring it, jabbering about the newest X box games they wanted. I tore into both of them, asking them what kind of human beings were they, that a piece of molded plastic, mattered more than human suffering. Have we become that enured by media displays of violence, we don’t care? Or, only care when it impacts us here at home?

                                                 It is so easy to tell children well it’s just the Iraqi’s or Muslims or… anything but the reality we are despised for being so selfish, acquisitive and uncaring. Which is the truth. As long as we continue on this me- me, I want it and want it now, hell with the rest of the planet attitude, we will be targets.

                                                 I love America deeply and would give my life for it, if need be. Because of this love, when I see how lost in materialism and superficiality we’ve become, I will speak out against it. And take action to try and help others, including my own family, learn to be more globally aware and sensitive. In a sense, we brought this on ourselves with our blind ambitions, and corrupt political system.  Our refusal at the highest levels of this land to heed the warnings that something was brewing, demonstrates this amply. Because our intelligence agencies were hobbled for over 20 years by deliberate manipulation and careful planning, we were left wide open.

                                                     If we allow this to happen again, and certain politicians are desperately trying to make certain it happens, we will be lost. Soon the elections will be here. The old saying: “Be careful what you wish for” is very applicable.

 

                                                       Meanwhile, tomorrow along with all who mourn that terrible day, I will weep again. This time for a much more profound loss. The loss of what it meant to be an American. The loss of our core values. The erosion of fundamental rights and more. And the collateral damage just keeps on rising.