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LATEST SUBMISSIONS

Six years after 9/11

Tuesday, September 11 at 1:18 PM

This Speakout has not been edited.

By James L. Short Jr.

May you live in interesting times.

Until six years ago, I never really understood that curse. We are approaching the sixth anniversary of the day that changed America, forever.

I finally had a chance to see the movie “World Trade Center” and could not keep back the tears remembering that day.

I was helping my niece, Jasmine, get ready for school that morning. The morning cartoons she was watching as she ate her breakfast were interrupted by the news of the first plane hitting the towers. Moments after they went live, the second plane hit, sending flames and debris into the morning sky over New York City. My niece looked confused and turned.

“Uncle James, what happened?”

All I could do, in the shocked state I was in at the time, was say that something very bad had just happened.

Looking back in my mind while watching the movie, I wonder if we as a nation have learned anything. I, for one, have taken many lessons from this horrible, historic event.

First, Americans are capable of so much more than we are doing now for each other. During the events of September 11th, 2001, people rallied together to help dig survivors out of the wreckage, heal those who were wounded, and comfort those who lost loved ones in this unforgivable attack.

Second, it made me realize that we as Americans can never take our safety and freedom for granted. It is something that must be fought for and protected with our very lives if our children are to know what it is.

Third, it made me realize that we must continue the struggle against oppression and fascism which is still very much alive in our world. Where there are men and forces that would work to harm and intimidate mankind into slavish obedience to any philosophy or religious dogma, we must be ready to oppose it with deadly resolve.

The attack against the World Trade Center was an act of war, undeclared and cowardly, no different than another attack that happened 65 years ago.

Perhaps you have heard of a place called Pearl Harbor?

During the Civil War, there were almost 500,000 deaths. During the First World War, over 100,000. During the Second World War, over 400,000. During the Korea Conflict (America’s forgotten war), over 50,000. During Vietnam, over 90,000. During the Gulf War, a mere 2,000.

Now in Iraq and Afghanistan, so many in our nation are screaming over the deaths of just over 3,000. Have we forgotten how many have died before to secure and encourage freedom around the world?

Don’t get me wrong, I hate war as well and wish we as a race could come up with better ways to handle our conflicts. It is unfortunate that the tree of freedom must still be watered with the blood of brave warriors. I agree with Eve Mirriam when she spoke of one day having a child who would ask her “What was war?” But as John Stewart Mill said: “War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.”

We as Americans must remember these words, lest we lose our resolve to maintain the freedoms that we have so richly enjoyed. If we do lose that resolve, our children’s futures will be poorer for it. Personally, I struggle not for myself, but for my niece and my nephews. I hope that one day they can take their children to a museum where our guns, bombs and machines of war will be displayed the same way that instruments of torture and archaic weapons are now. I hope they look upon them with startled amazement that such devices could ever have been used. I pray they look up at their parents and ask.

James L. Short Jr. is a resident of Thornton.

READER COMMENTS

The politicization of the 9/11 tradgedy, as evidenced by the near complete lack of its recognition in the Denver school system, is horrendous to behold. Regardless of your political view of the war in Iraq, 3000 of our countrymen were killed in a cowardly terrorist act that has plunged us into a long term, global war and permanently changed the way we live. One does not have to support the war to recognize and remember this day of infamy and our children should be reminded of the price the 9/11 victims and their families paid, and the price our soldiers pay on a daily basis to maintain our freedom. No special events, no speakers, no cirriculum, "no big deal" says the Denver School System. Free countries such as ours do not hide their heritage or their history and never forget those who have paid the ultimate price. The Denver School System is reflecting the political view of the Colorado State Democratic governing body and that of the teachers union in essentially ignoring a very important day in our history. How sad.

Posted by Matt on September 11, 2007 08:25 PM

The attack against the World Trade Center was an act of war, undeclared and cowardly, no different than another attack that happened 65 years ago.

Perhaps you have heard of a place called Pearl Harbor?

Yes and the day after Pearl Harbor we declared war on Japan. Hitler's Germany then declared war on us so we joined that battle as well.

In 2002 we attacked the people who attacked us. In 2003 we abandoned the war against those who attacked us and started another, unrelated war.

The closest WWII analogy to attacking Iraq would be that after the battle of the Coral Sea we withdrew the fleet from the Pacific; stopped plans to join the British in Africa and instead invaded Mexico.

Iraq was originally and remains the biggest foreign policy mistake in American history and George Bush is the worst President in our history.

Who would have thought that anyone could be worse at the job than LBJ.

Posted by Colorado Dave on September 11, 2007 07:36 PM

And here America sits, 6 years after 9/11, no closer to catching Bin Laden and the organization responsible for that 'act of war' fully reconstituted.

Imagine if Japan was in a similarly strong position 6 years after Pearl Harbor, and America was mired an open-ended civil war in another country altogether.

If you want to draw the comparison between Pearl Harbor and 9/11 -- fine -- but just be prepared to accept how poorly today's Americans fare in that comparsion, due to our tolerance for incompetence and manipulation at the hands of the leaders we elected in times of 'war.'

Posted by on September 11, 2007 06:57 PM