Patriot Day 2012: Remembering 9/11 and Holding Our Country to Higher Standards In Memory Of Thousands of Victims of That Fateful Day!

Remembering 9/11:  In shame I mis-trust!

Today is a somber day obvious as we remember the terrible occurrences of 9/11, but it also brings to me other feelings combined with disappointment, anger and disbelief.  No, not because of the events which took place on that unforgettable day in September, those feelings are overt, the negative feelings I felt as I awoke today are associated with the cold, frozen position in which this country appears to be some 11 years later.

As I watched various news programs recanting and replaying the events of that day, I could not help but be moved by the awesomeness which drove people on that frightening day to help their fellow man after the towers were hit and fell to our dismay and when we all knew for sure it was a terrorist attack which had befallen this awesome country.  No one asked one another if they were Caucasian, Latino, Asian, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, American, European, heterosexual, gay…each person who loaned a hand despite the daunting, arduous  task staring them in the eye seeing how much tons of debris they would have to muddle through simply did so because it was the right thing to do.  No one questioned anything knowing deep down that they, too, were still in danger of getting hurt or worse.  Without a second thought they just jumped in and helped because they wanted to help their fellow man…no one gave a second thought to the idea that though they had survived the attacks that their respective lives were still in danger as they tore through the rubble to look for other possible survivors or simply to locate bodies or other forms of identification so that the loved ones would have something to bury.

I watched television today and saw various politicians, military personnel, and other people of different backgrounds and such as they paid their respects through-out different locations where the attacks occurred on that gloomy day in September - then I muted the television.  As I did as such it came to my mind, with both sadness and anger, it came to my mind that if I did not know any better and already knew that their heads were lowered out of respect for 9/11, for a moment of silence, that it could have very well been that their heads were instead lowered in shame.  Shame you might ask…why?  Simple…because so many people gave their lives on that September day so that the rest of us could live on in peace and keep living the American dream and keep fighting the good fight yet 11 years later this country finds itself at the helm of too much unnecessary turmoil!
Take the passengers of Flight 93 which crashed in the desolate field which was actually a reclaimed strip mine in Stonycreek Township near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, they shared one thing different I presume than the other ill-fated victims of the other three plane crashes that morning, they knew without a doubt what negative impact might bestow this country and each one knew of the most probable demise they were faced with, but they took action to try to regain control of their flight.  They voted and decided to take action against their captures…they stared death in the face and opted to take a stance and make their move…"Let’s roll!" was their final battle cry!  I am certain each person who took action wanted a better outcome and their actions were led by the desire to survive, but they also knew that for the betterment of thousands more on the ground that they needed to do everything they could to deny the four hijackers of their plane from causing greater harm.  The heroes of this flight also knew the dangers their plane might cause to Washington if it was allowed to crash anywhere in the area.  They selflessly tried to regain control so that government could continue to govern, so that freedom could continue to shine in this awesome country.  Their actions brave and heroic were certainly not in vain.  We owe them so much; we can never repay them for what their actions saved for the rest of us on that day. 

Eleven years later and yes Washington continues to govern but they do so on such a pathetic level.  The warm-fuzzies we all held on 9/11 and in day, weeks, months ahead of us in this nation have since passed and things are back to status quo.  Politicians on the hill are more divided than ever.  As the victims of flight 93 perished for our good, the politicians keep politicking for selfish reasons.  They have veered into cold, ugly positions where compassion, diplomacy and democracy has eluded their ways.  The right wing and left wing of politics is more divided than ever and ideas and views no longer are shared.  If it is not their way it is the wrong way no matter if the idea is actually a good one that should probably be enacted into law.  Disrespecting one another seems to be the norm and hatred and vitriol is also happenstance.  Shamefully calling for the leader of our country, our president, our commander-in-chief, to show his birth certificate and the hatred which has befallen him by his political opponents is probably not part of the ideas or ideals that the victims of flight 93 died for on 9/11.  I am still taken aback by the lack of shame, regret and remorse which has escaped so many politicians and fellow Americans every time someone or an organization curses our president referring to him many things which he clearly is not and not for; my gosh, who does such things?  Demanding to see a birth certificate of our president is so juvenile, humiliating and has only gone on to make our awesome country appear ignorant and hateful to the rest of the world.  Is this where politicians really want to take our country 'back to"; personally I vote for not just "NO" but for a "HELL NO"!  Calling our president a Muslim when in essence he is not is done in spite and to incite the hatred that many people have come to allow into their world, into their hearts post 9/11.  A group of terrorists who happened to be Muslim attacked America not the religious group as a whole, but the ignorant masses of Americans who became too radical could not see the difference.  They saw it as one thing, one group, one belief.  The same mistakes which have long plagued our awesome country during past wars was once again leading many down the wrong path in this new millennium.  Lest we forget the wrong decisions that our previous experiences and fear has caused us to make in the past.  For instance the awful and so not very Christian-like  Japanese war camps this country set-up in our own backyard during WWII, the mistreatment of thousands of Japanese-Americans during this time of war that saw many of these citizens stripped of their rights, their freedom, their possessions and separated them from their loved ones.  Negative actions like those are what faces this country once again if we do not turn from our close-minded ways and begin to really accept one another for not just who we are but for what we are and what we stand for and for the differences we all bring to the table.  We need to celebrate those differences and respect them so that we do not allow our judgment to be clouded in a manner which keeps us from doing good deeds and to make better, sound decisions for the betterment of this awesome country.   
Ultimately as the citizenry of this awesome country, we ALL need to hold our respective politicians to the same high standards or perhaps higher so that they are more afraid of not getting along because their constituency will, without the blink of an eye, vote them out of office.  Awesome would be if politicians especially senators and representatives would once again revert back to the days which Ted Kennedy once spoke about when all politicians would gather for drinks and cigars after a long battle on the hill to not only fellowship and form friendships but to decide, off the record, those difficult decisions facing them on the hill the next day or days to follow.  To simply get along and make decisions for love of country instead of allowing divisiveness to be their guiding light because being right and having their ideas become law was more important than actually bringing good ideas to fruition for the betterment of the masses.  To be better and more honorable so that the victims of flight 93, all victims of 9/11, and their legacies to never succumb to vanity for what they lost on that somber September day.