I wrote 5 years ago

[serryjw]

I awakened from a 7-Day Fog

On a beautiful fall day in September, Americans across the country awakened to horrific images that will forever be seared on our collective consciousness. The WORLD TRADE CENTER was in flames, an airplane was shooting though the building, and bodies were falling out windows
I am sure, many Americans like myself, thought they were seeing a “trailer” from the next Hollywood Blockbuster. I was waiting for Bruce Willis or Arnold Schwarzenegger to walk out from the burning rubble. But this was NOT Hollywood, and Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger were no place to be found. This was reality and our National Landmark was under attack.
7 days after the attach; THE OPRAH SHOW had our First Lady, Laura Bush as a guest. The subject of the show: How do we comfort our child after the tragedy of September 11,2001. The subject gave pause to reflect on a world I grew up in. The personal security of growing up in a family filled with love, and a country at peace cannot be expressed completely. Your foundation is solid and the future possibilities endless. Laughter is contagious and serenity fills your every waking moment.
Queens, New York was a great place to spend the formative years. It was a typical middle class neighborhood, much like hundreds in America of the ‘60’s. Kids played safely on the streets; hopscotch, basketball, and handball against the brick wall of the corner drugstore.
THE FIRST CRACK IN MY FOUNDATION

October 1962 my life changed forever. The Cuban Missile Crisis was a watershed for me. I remember the 13 days like they were yesterday. My father, for the first time, did NOT go to work. My parents were glued to the TV for days. The fear of War, the stench it left, permeates my being to this day.
The escalation of the Cuban Missile Crisis brought us close to WW III and the possible annihilation of millions of innocent people. This epochal event began my early disdain for war and violence.
There were many in JFK’s inner circle who wanted to bomb Cuba “To Hell and Back” (sound familiar), fortunately, there were dissenting opinions, voices of reason that encouraged JFK with a blockade. Robert Kennedy did not think a world power should invade a small country and kill innocent women and children. WHY? Because we are Americans…. and this is America. We hold ourselves as the beacon of humanity.
Maybe this is the price we pay for Freedom---RESTRAINT. Is it easy? NO! A natural human emotion is to fight back when you or your safety is violated. Has America been violated? WOW, you bet; as a country, as a people, and as a member of the HUMAN race. For the first time in our history, violence has hit our shores. The target: innocent citizens NOT a military installation.
Our dilemma, how do we respond? How do we channel the outrage? The decisions we make now, as the custodians of freedom, democracy and humanity, will affect our children, grandchildren, and generations to come. America is a Nation “By the People”. This is the time all Americans have the responsibility, the obligation to raise their voices in approval or concern for our governments’ policies. We need to question the direction and understand the actions our government will implement on our behalf. We can NOT afford to sit back and surrender the sovereignty as a citizen to “fat old men with cigars”. Let’s NOT allow blind obedience confuse Patriotism with Nationalism.
In the midst of this unspeakable tragedy; there is no better time to celebrate the sanctity of human life. Unfortunately, individuals’ actions towards Arab-Americans, in the days after the attack, where an echo of our discriminatory behavior towards Japanese in the aftermath of December 7, 1941. SOMEDAY, we may find ourselves walking hand-in-hand in to the gas chambers, if we don’t safeguard the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the principals they were founded on.

Douglas MacArthur wrote: No Man is entitled to the blessings of Freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.

It seems to me; we don’t learn. There is no difference between Adolf Hitler, Osana Bin Laden, Jerry Farwell, and Pat Robinson. Preaching hatred, religious and ethnic purity, and advocating intolerance got us into this mess. We in America; have religious leaders, who in the name of Christianity, blame Americans for this travesty against humanity. We find it acceptable, (we are Not outraged), to tie a Black man to a car and drag him to his death, tie a Gay man to a fence to die an unspeakable death, burn the houses’ down of lesbians. Why? Because they are different and we don’t try to understand!
Wake Up America! We are a country of hatred----- We love to hate----Something, Anything, Anyone
How can we be so schizophrenic as a nation? On a daily basis; road-rage is commonplace, obscene gestures are how we express inconvenience, and general rudeness is pervasive. Yet the same people became American heroes in the weeks following the September 11th attach. The outpouring of human kindness, the sacrifices of ordinary people are unparalleled in human history. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been raised to help the relief fund for faceless strangers. WHY? Because we are Americans,…. and this is America
This is a country founded on differences. Instead of embracing the differences, we allow them to tear us apart as a Nation; Black/White, Gay/Straight, Abortion, Guns, Death Penalty, Right to Die, Right to live, our Government with their lies and half truths. We are a violent society who believes it’s acceptable that 30,000 Americans die annually at the hands of guns…but we are outraged by a faceless enemy killing 3,000 innocent people?
We need to look in the mirror. Do we wonder why we are hated by many in the world? If we preach equality, we must practice it. How can we point fingers when we have so many citizens who are disenfranchised from our government and other citizens? I have watched Americans for many days with OLD GLORY, RED/WHITE and BLUE anything; our National Anthem played over and over. Is our solidarity for America and the values we should treasure? Or may I suggest; we are unified and feel comfort in our collective hatred.
Shall we invade Afghanistan- kill innocent women and children; redecorate a country, that has nothing, with Napalm? Has so much time passed that we have forgotten the images on the 6 o’clock news of our “boys” coming home in body bags from Vietnam?
Yes, our government needs to do something…. Evil can NOT triumph. It is the warmonger rhetoric that scares me. In recent days, Americans have sounded like cheerleaders at a “half time” football game. This is a somber time in the archives of human history. Many HUMAN lives are going to be lost, and we should never lose sight of that. Bin Laden and his regime and many others like him are another version of Adolf Hitler....and they must be stopped, but lets direct our attentions to the guilty and leave the innocent around the world, that are victims of tyranny, to struggle for their next breath.
3,000 people will have died in vein if we don’t question what’s important, learn more understanding and tolerance and express ourselves, as a people, in a peace loving way.

If we don’t…. THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING!

SerryJW