Ten years have passed and we’re still grieving.
The 2,977 victims.
The 415 law enforcement officers and firefighters killed.
The thousands of people lost in Iraq and Afghanistan.
And millions of us gripped by fear.
The 9/11 attacks rapidly spread the virus of fear throughout the last 10 years.
Politics of fear have resulted in a lost decade of American life.
Fear of more attacks.
Fear of hurricanes.
Illegal aliens.
Recessions.
Depressions.
President Obama was elected in part because he appealed to the best in our post-9/11 psyche.
The first responders.
The humanity that poured out of everyone once the towers were hit.
Hope.
And, he succumbed to the politics of fear.
Because it’s easy.
And people react to it.
We have to stop this cycle.
Or, in 90 years our kids will look back at the last 100 years and call it “The lost century.”
I remember 9/11/01 just like yesterday.
My wife and I spent all day in front of the TV/radio and Internet.
Just like everybody else.
Late afternoon, we decided to go out and shop for groceries.
It was the most depressing shopping experience I ever had.
Nobody said a word.
The depression was palatable.
After putting a few items in the cart, I said: “Fuck it, let’s have a drink.”
We drove to our favorite German restaurant.
We were among humans.
Being with other humans made the experience so much easier to digest.
And you had the feeling that we can get over this.
There was hope.
We had no Facebook or Twitter.
No Skype.
All these tools are available now.
But we’re still a nation gripped by fear.
No leader will change that.
We all have to.
Just like we dealt with it through connecting with others.
We need to move on by connecting with others.
Let’s face it: The event became it’s own echo.
The thunder was louder than the impact of the planes.
The hole was bigger than the buildings that used to be there.
The consequences were more dramatic than the actual attacks.
Our country is more wounded and insecure than we ever thought it could be.
Feel the fear and move past it.
Fear is what remains of 9/11.
Fear is not what happened.
Fear is different.
Fear is not panic, focused on surviving.
Fear is an old, deeply ingrained emotion.
Fear doesn’t connect us with the world, it disconnects us.
Fear strips us naked.
Fear became politics.
Fear became reality.
Fear is also a fiction.
The fiction that Bin Laden was more powerful than he really was.
The fiction that we have to take our shoes off to prevent additional attacks.
Let’s be honest: We fell for the Bin Laden’s and Atta’s of this world.
We played right into their hands.
We changed because of them.
We turned into paranoid citizens, stopped trusting our instincts and started rationalizing our common sense away.
We have done this for 10 years.
Focused on a perilous future.
Let’s deal with the present.
Let’s have more of this “Oh, the hell with it” attitude.
And stop listening to the fear mongers.
We’ve been acting like a country that reminds me more of a combo of North Korea and Banana Republic.
Let’s act like the USA of 1945.
For the next 10 years, let’s stop looking at the mirror and whine about decline/end of an empire etc.
Let’s forget about our present self.
Instead, remember the past self.
And strive for a better future self.
uwehook 
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