Is the country more divided than ever five years after 9/11? If so, why do you think that's the case? Can we again find the same sense of unity we felt in the immediate aftermath of 9/11? Should we? Talk about it here.
Editorial cartoon by Scott Stantis, The Birmingham (Ala.) News, for USA TODAY.
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Whenever I see fear I see anger and division. 9/11 seems to have made our nation very afraid. While it may have united us initially, perhaps our fears are the source of our divisions. Each of us has ideas about what we should fear. Each of has ideas about what we should do to eliminate the source of our fear. None of seems able to find the "true cause" and "one right answer". Perhaps fear itself is a major source of our division. Perhaps we have turned on each other because we do not know how to deal with our fear.
After 9/11, I was very afraid for a time. I was afraid that I might die the next time I rode a plane. So really what I was afraid of was dying. What I had to learn to deal with was my fear of death. Because of many near death experiences that I will not detail here I became more comfortable with death. For me death is simply part of a cycle. I need not spend the precious moments of each day worrying about it. It will come when it comes. My chances of dying from a terrorist attack are much, much less than my chances of dying in a car accident on a trip to the grocery store. I do not think of death on the way to the grocery store.
When I focus on my fear of death I say to this day, "You are worthless unless you are helping save me from the horrible eventuality of death." So long as I keep this view every future day will be worthless since I must die anyway.
In October of 2024 my wife and I booked a ticket on a plane and flew to New York. We walked past the crater where the WTC had stood. I was sad and angry for those who had died. The sadness and anger were selfish. I doubt if those who died were helped by it.
Later we walked the streets of New York. We looked around at the wonderful life around us. I was happy. I smiled at people when I walked by them. Many of them smiled back. When we flew home I was less afraid.
I will not spend this day in fear. I will reach out to other life with as much love and kindness as I can muster. In this way I will have less fear.
Just Dale
There's no "news value" in showing that the majority of Americans are somewhere not too far from the hazy midpoint of the political spectrum. Thats why the parties themselves, and the media outlets that cover politics emphazize the extremes of the parties. This hyperpolarization has lead to a virtual standstill of meaningful and coherent legistlation coming out of congress. The desire to plump up your resume with your parties "base" and to get reelected far outweigh any emphasis on doing the work of the country and fairly representing your local constituents. The very fact that the description of the extreme wings of the two parties as the "base" demonstrates how out of balance things have become. Its time for a viable third party or a unification platform, and well past time for lobby reform and term limits.
melman
Thanx, Web team.
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Thanks Melman - a truly inspirational post. Perhaps the most insidious legacy of this administration has been that from before the beginning it proclaimed itself "A uniter, not a divider," and then spent every waking moment since 1/20/01 dividing us, with fear as one of its key tools. I can honestly say that I have not spent one moment since 9/11 worrying about being attacked by Muslim extremists. My fears have all been about the threat from within.
Isn't it ironic that Clinton and the Democrats of old paid lip sevice to the real class-warfare that has been waged against middle America for 25 years now but in fact pursued policies that in many cases rewarded the moneyed oligarchy, while Team Bush pays lip service to themes of unity while rabidly pursuing policies that divide us?
The only bright light, and one around which can all now unite, is a growing recognition that at this, perhaps our darkest hour since the onset of the American Civil War, there is no place to go but up!
Mark Greene
Texas Democrat in the Middle