I don't know. I remember 9-11. And I remember how quickly we came together in the midst of unbelievable tragedy. But 10 years later I think in some ways the terrorists might have won. We've been at war for 10 years. Wars that have cost thousands of American lives. Wars that have cost trillions of dollars. Wars that have brought soldiers home in pieces, destroyed families, ruined lives.
We dutifully take our shoes off to go through airport screening, stand by while toddlers and grandmothers are searched and think we're safe or that if we object we're whiny.
When, really, we've turned on each other. We don't want mosques built, we don't want gays to have rights, we stand by while we continue to kill in foreign parts of the world but object when "liberals" want to spend money on healthcare for women or children or the unemployed.
We accuse the unemployed of being lazy while we ask them to fight to get jobs that pay significantly less than the jobs they lost and ask them to take jobs that don't offer healthcare or whatever.
We demand continued tax breaks for the rich while ignoring the plight of the middle class. We don't want the government funding programs to help the poor 'cause it makes them lazy or something, forgetting that they need to eat too.
We must have spending cuts to make up for costs associated with the worst flooding in years (maybe every?) on the East Coast and have kittens when anyone objects to the human and financial costs associated with our never-ending wars.
I was horrified by 9-11. I watched the news and I watched Congress and the President pull together.
But now? I think the terrorists might have won after all.
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