On September 11th, 2001, I worked in Manhattan for the National Conference for Community and Justice, formerly named the National Conference of Christians and Jews. We worked to fight all forms of bias and bigotry. Our efforts were rooted in dialogue by helping people listen and see each other. I was also a trainer in the Anti-Defamation League’s World of Difference. I lived in NJ and often took the NJ PATH train to the World Trade Center station as part of my commute to W 32nd St and 6th Ave. Fortunately, that morning I traveled a different route.
The clear and sunny day with a perfect temperature filled me with optimism and energy to do our work. Upon entering the office, I crossed paths with my boss, and we began to discuss goals for the day when a co-worker interrupted to ask, did we hear that a plane flew into one of the WTC towers. We said no and blew it off, thinking an imaginable accident happened. Then the 2nd plane hit.
Once I realized the enormity of the moment and believing the nation was under attack, I stopped to pray. I prayed for forgiveness for failing. I and others like me who worked to bring humanity together failed. And while I also prayed that our government’s response would be measured and war averted, the former soldier in me knew the war had begun. Hate won that day. Sep 11th turned from a sunny, optimistic morning to opaque dawn for the globe. I then rushed to a nearby store and bought an Instamatic camera. See the few pictures I shot that day.
On September 11th, 2021, I did not participate in any events, ceremonies, or watch memorials. The date belongs to the families, and loved ones of the people murdered that day.
With the 20th Anniversary behind us, I turn with great sadness to honor the innocent victims in the aftermath of 9-11 and the wake of the U.S. response. My heart goes out to the people simply trying to live, caught in the crossfire of war, displaced, maimed, and killed for no good reason.
When I turn to the combatants – U.S., coalition, and the Taliban, I grow angry at leaders. I am disgusted by their stupidity and capacity to spill blood and break bodies and minds on the altar of war. I am weary of these male-driven systems that justify hate and killing.
People say never forget. What is it that we should not forget about the last twenty years? I ask the nation, the people of the world, including the Taliban and al Qaeda, and I especially call on men to look at the waste, the deaths, the broken bodies and minds, and the horrors of the past 20 yrs. What was accomplished by either party? Pain and hate are the most abundant products of al Qaeda’s and U.S. projects for domination. Yes, a few people gained something – money and power. But nobody won.
Dr. King has warned us. “We must all learn to live together as brothers, or we will all perish together as fools.”
Let us never forget so that we stop listening to the fools who lead us into this foolishness.