9-11 2001: over two thousand people dead in attack on the US.
It is not foreign terrorists who invaded the US Capitol, corrupted democracy, attacked the press, blocked voting, tried to install an unelected autocrat, attacked public health, imposed punishments with religious zealotry against women, or damaged the rule of law.
Bin Laden, the Saudi mastermind hidden in Pakistan: dead.
Untold Iraqis: dead for weapons of mass destruction they didn’t have.
ISIS arose: more death.
Afghanistan: twenty years of fighting and death. The Taliban is back.
A vast travel security surveillance system: installed.
Canadian border: hardened.
Results?
Twenty years on: It is not foreign terrorists who invaded the US Capitol, corrupted democracy, attacked the press, blocked voting, tried to install an unelected autocrat, attacked public health, imposed punishments with religious zealotry against women, or damaged the rule of law.
Khati Hendry
Characterizations:
moving, right on!, well written
Exactly right, Khati. Where has this all led?
And as Dylan said, “there must be some way outta here”.
The roots of our reaction to 9/11 have yielded a lot of toxic growth, Khati. Each day I wake up hoping that enough people will be disgusted with where we are and start to fight back in earnest. Will it ever happen?
Agreed. I have come to realize that very little “happens” clearly, but, to paraphrase MLK, with some perseverance the arc of the universe can bend in a better direction. Or not, but what are the options except to try and to support each other.
Perfect and profound RetroFlash Khati. I totally agree with your take on this and that cartoon (one of my favorites) is so true.
I fear there will be many upcoming opportunities to band together in the face of disasters, and we will be called to live in best of times and worst of times. Onward.
Exactly right, Khati. Indeed, I had considered using this great Pogo line myself — so particularly glad you did. Man, this is one stupid crazy (and dangerous) country these days, and thanks mainly to white American guys.
I figured Pogo would resonate. It is somewhat encouraging that we are all seeing the same issues at hand, which opens a bit of opportunity to move forward. But what a mess.
That Walt Kelly quote which originated in 1970 just never stops being relevant, unfortunately. As my RetroFlash also discusses, things now are scarier than ever. Hope there IS some way outta here, but many days I despair.
I hear it. When I looked up the quote, I found out it was associated with environmental concerns (you can see Pogo picking up litter)—also very prescient. I am happy my parents did not live to see this day.
Pogo was prescient indeed Khati.
Heaven help us.
We need all the help we can muster.
As I read my way down our writing on this prompt, I’m struck by the shared survey of people, places and events that people have assembled. It’s as if we have all been moved toward the upcoming observation of yom Kippur, a day of atonement. But for us here, we have much to observe and little to atone for…. said the joker to the thief ;-).
There’s so much confusion—I can’t get no relief.