9/11’s message: Don’t live in fear
In Avalon, N.J., there stands a gnarled 1,800-pound steel beam that, until Sept. 11, 2001, helped support the World Trade Center in New
York. It is the centerpiece of a tear-inducing Memorial honoring those who lost their lives that day.
The artifact is 9 feet,
11 inches tall, and leans at an angle of 9 degrees, 11 minutes towards Manhattan. According to Avalon’s website, the circular wall that surrounds the beam is located 9 feet, 11 inches away from the girder, and is sloped to represent the ebb and flow of life, love, and water.
On any given day, excepting Sept. 11, the Memorial garners few visitors, despite thousands who pass it daily. At first glance, that would seem an indictment of a complacent American public, leading to the lament of “how soon we forget.” But not so fast.
Should people frequent such memorials more than an obligatory once-a-year visit? Of course. But just because that fails to happen doesn’t mean Americans forget or don’t care. Quite the opposite. This week marks the twentieth anniversary of those horrific attacks, and while we remember, we have also moved on with our lives — exactly as we should have. The human spirit has a remarkable ability to recover from traumatic events; if it didn’t, we’d be forever stuck in the morass of the past, wholly incapable of moving forward, upward, and onward. The greatest lesson from assaults against America — from Pearl Harbor to Oklahoma City to 9/11 — is the imperative that we can never allow monumental tragedy to hold us back from being the best people, and best country, we can be.
Sadly, but predictably, this solemn week is already being marred by those who feel it necessary to politicize everything. In numerous social media circles, some on the right are asking their echo chambers how scared they are of possible attacks on Sept. 11, based on the Afghanistan pullout and Joe Biden being president.
But ridiculous as these sentiments are, they merit rebutting.
Ironically, obsessing about the Taliban hitting us on our turf is a slap in the face to those whom the Right venerates: police, military, and intelligence officials. In other words, claims of an impending attack assume that the bad guys will elude our intel apparatus and easily breach America’s defense network — a system that, while certainly not perfect, has successfully protected the nation since 9/11.
Let’s get this straight: those who protect the country day and night, regardless of who occupies the White House, will somehow fall down on the job and allow attackers to get through simply because Joe Biden is president? But lo and behold, if Donald Trump were commander-in-chief, it would be all rainbows and lollipops? The hypocrisy in criticizing the professionals charged with defending America is shameful.
Errors in security policy transcend four presidential administrations, both Democrat and Republican. Instead of engaging in scare tactics and partisanship, agitators on both sides would be infinitely better-served advocating commonsense reform so that all Americans are safer.
Above all, we need to stop living in fear. There are roughly 30,000 commercial flights in the U.S. per day, equating to eleven million per year. Factor in no hijacked jets since 9/11, and the number skyrockets to over 200 million flights without a terrorist takeover.
Yet many are still reluctant to fly in the belief that their flight will be “the next one” targeted. Irrational? Absolutely, but who can blame them? Every day, Americans are bombarded by fearmongers on TV and radio, hawking apocalyptic proclamations that the next attack is imminent (a line they’ve been saying for twenty years). “It’s not a question of if, but when,” we’re constantly warned, so be afraid. Very afraid.
The odds are infinitesimally small that you’ll be blown up by ISIS or the Taliban, highjacked, or be in a plane crash. So Americans must reel themselves back to reality, remembering that, while there are no absolutes in life, the odds of anything truly horrific happening to them are virtually nil. But easier said than done, since ultra-hype — like shark sightings keeping people out of the water — won’t change anytime soon.
If Americans put down their phones and looked around, they’d realize that the worst things most will experience are getting rear-ended by a texting Millennial (and not receiving an apology) or being cut off by a soccer mom late to her kid’s game.
So in remembrance of 9/11, let’s never forget that being an American means that “the only thing we have to fear is … fear itself.” Godspeed.