A Chequer-Board of Nights and Days

I am shocked that seven whole years have passed since September 11th, since of course, the memories of the day are so vivid that one would be forgiven for thinking that one only just lived through it. The vividness keeps the memories fresh. It keeps the outrage fresh as well and one should be outraged anew when remembering 9/11.

Outraged for the innocents who were made to perish. Outraged for the audacity of the attack against us and the very viciousness of those who perpetrated those attacks. Outrage for all of the follow-up plans that have been thought up and have failed, that have been thought up and have not yet tried, that have been thought up and succeeded and that have not yet been thought up but will be soon. All of this deserves our just and thinking anger. And the consequences of that anger as well.

Outrage too should be directed at the proposition that we should somehow dance and tiptoe our way around the memory of 9/11. That it should be The Event That Shall Not Be Named. That because of the pain associated with the attacks, we should push 9/11/2001 out of our public consciousness instead of reminding ourselves and by our reminding, guard ourselves against future death and destruction.

No one expects that daily life shall not continue on 9/11/2008. But we ought to remember every day that nothing more than the gift of the humdrum and the ordinary was sought by countless innocents on 9/11/2001. That simple gift was taken away from all of us. And nearly 3,000 innocents lost their lives.

Forgive me if I am not over that. Or don't. I don't care much. I shouldn't be over that. Dishonor comes in the forgetting, as does disarmament. And death follows shortly after.

I have a better plan. Let's remember. Let's face the awful, stark, horrifying, disgusting reality of 9/11/2001 without flinching. I do not seek blood and gore for the sake of blood and gore. I don't even seek blood and gore per se. I seek only the resolution of a simple proposition: A catastrophic and murderous attack was launched by fanatics against the United States. Nearly 3,000 people were killed in a single day. They have earned the right to haunt our thoughts. And we owe them an obligation to ensure as best we can that those who perpetrated this disgusting act will feel the natural consequences of a just and thinking anger of a wounded but powerful nation.