America, we have forgotten
Today is 9/11, a day of national remembrance. At least that is what they tell us: we shall never forget the day, the lives lost, the tragedy of that day.
But America, we have forgotten; every day we allow this dishonorable president to serve while Republicans continue to give him a pass and say nothing and do nothing to remove him we demonstrate how we have forgotten not only those who died on 9/11, but also those who suffered the loss of their loved ones.
The truth is, for every person that died on 9/11, probably 10 others suffered the pain of loss: from family to friends, co-workers and communities. That’s 30,000 people, who 19 years later are still feeling the loss that day brought into their lives.
Yet today, our nation watches in horror as every week we lose more Americans than we did that one day in 2001. We have now lost nearly 200,000 from COVID-19, and at least 90% of those deaths could have been prevented. And those 200,000 deaths have impacted at least 10 times that number in the terms of loved ones: that’s two million Americans who suffer from the loss of a loved one from COVID-19. Two million American lives will be affected for the rest of their lives, just as those 30,000 associated with 9/11 suffer to this day.
We have forgotten, every time we fail to learn from our mistakes. After 9/11, we went after the bad guys, but we also learned to protect ourselves better. And we learned that throwing our political might around the world didn’t always make us friends: in fact, some of our behaviors inspired those who attacked us. Since then, America has worked to change how we act in the world. Unfortunately, we have not applied anything we have learned about Donald Trump.
We have not learned to protect our citizens from our own leadership when it fails us; we have not learned to demand honesty from our leaders; we have not learned to trust each other, the way we thought we did after 9/11.
We have forgotten the feeling of unity, the patriotism, the pride and the pain. We have forgotten to love our neighbor, instead now allowing a yard sign to divide us, or worse yet cheap lies from a would-be dictator. We have forgotten what justice means — that you root out bad guys — not lock up folks for marching and protesting against systemic racism. We have forgotten to care for each other, to check on each other, to protect each other: we would rather name-call or attack each other based on whether someone wears a mask or not.
We have forgotten: because on that day in September, we were brought together as one nation, determined to be there for each other, determined to get those responsible, determined to make America better from that day forward. But we have forgotten, and it seems as if we never really meant those sentiments; the words ring hollow today as we lay meaningless wreaths in ceremonies meant to make politicians look like leaders, not to assuage the anguish of those who mourn.
We have forgotten, and America has changed, unfortunately for the worse, much worse. There is no remembering now, no going back to that spirit of one nation, no ointment to heal this wound, which has been inflicted by this president failing to act to protect America and Americans.
We have forgotten, and we should all be ashamed.
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©Timothy J. Sabo
