I rarely go to the movies anymore.  The cost and inconvenience have gotten the better of my judgement as my aging progresses.  I do, however, make the personal sacrifice at times for the sole desire of making my commercial contribution to projects I see as worthy of financial support.  So it was that I decided to go see "World Trade Center" last night.

The movie, in and of itself, is no blockbuster as movies go.  I would actually be quite surprised, especially given the way so many people recoil now at those images and any attempts at graphically reminding us of the events and aftermath of that day, that any mention of Oscars would be forthcoming.  During the movie, and since I have had a chance to sleep on it though, it has occurred to me that there is much we have forgotten.

I have watched this country go through an amazing metamorphosis in the months and years since 9/11.  Recall with me, if you will, all the experts that have come across the screen to tell us it hurt too much; that we needed to get those images out of public purview for fear that the continued traumatization it would render would be too much for us to withstand.

I find the dramatic lack of images, stories, books, movies, and the like utterly dumbfounding.  Remember, the first "real" theatrical recollections of 9/11 just barely came back to haunt us with the release of the movie "Flight 93" - 5 years hence.  While there have been documentaries here and there, we have for the most part been spared any "real", "in your face" reminders since November or December 2001.  Consider This IMAGE this for a moment:

And ask yourself if you remember how you felt when you saw it as it happened.  Did you feel anger, disgust, horror, or shock?  Did you find yourself teary-eyed, or outright weeping as you sat in front of the television screen as this unfolded?  Do you remember at this very moment how you felt that day; what you thought, who was with you, or where you were?

In the immediate political aftermath, members of both parties of Congress stood together, arm in arm at the steps of the Capitol and sang God Bless America.  Tom Daschle hugged George W. Bush; kissed him on the cheek in fact.  The members of both parties talked openly and frequently about being at war; about having been attacked and about coming together, showing our resolve, and facing, fighting, and defeating this enemy who had brought death and destruction to our soil.  Many an orator was heard railing against this affront; against the idea that America had somehow lost her innocence and had been drawn into a conflict that she had not initiated but that she would not shrink from.  Our defining moment, like it was on December 7, 1941, had been borne on this generation.

The patriotism, the call to duty, the rush from around the country to go to these scenes of death and devastation were like no other in our history.  People from all walks of life and manner of ability found their way to New York, and to Washington, and even the fields of Pennsylvania, to do what they could.  In honoring the sacrifice of the fallen passengers, innocents at the Pentagon and the Trade Centers, the firefighters and police officers, this country had an outpouring of grief, and sadness, and renewed courage and conviction like at no other time in our history.  We had been galvanized by a fundamental truth; we had been attacked, and from the ashes we would rise to seek vengeance and justice from those responsible.  We stood together and prayed as a Nation.

I remember, vividly, the scenes and images of those first few days after the attacks.  I remember it as clearly now as I did then. 

I remember how full to the brim I was with both sadness and anger, but I also remember the pride I felt in my country and her people as I watched the re-forming community that had been so lost among us.  I felt a renewed hope that perhaps, from the ashes, a better more whole country would arise; independent of the calls for vengeance, I had seen for the first time in my life a country that truly felt as "one", and I was comforted by what I saw.  While a war was in the making, we took time out to recover those we could, bury those who had died, help the ones who had survived, and honor the memory of the people, the victims, and the strength and courage of our people and our country.

AND, we took time out to remember who we were as a country, what being an American meant, and how fortunate we all were by the grace of God to be able to pick up the pieces and move ahead with what lay ahead for us as individuals and as a country.


As I left the movie theater though, I was brought painfully back to our 2006 reality.  We HAVE forgotten 9/11.  I don't suggest, as some, that we have forgotten the day or the events of the day.  Those political shots are just that; attempts to "own" 9/11 for political gain, and divide us again amongst the left versus right, liberal versus conservative, anti-war versus pro-war dimensions of America and her oft-times senseless and crazy political wrangling for power and party supremacy.  What we have forgotten is something more subtle than that. 

We have forgotten how it feels to be American, and be proud of it.  We have forgotten our neighbors and their children, forgotten our churches and our religions, forgotten our community, forgotten the feeling of pulling together in a crisis for the better good of us all;  forgotten the lessons learned on 9/11.  In our rush to heal and move on, we have pushed aside what effects 9/11 had on our sense of humanity, of right and wrong, of the value of human life and the importance of realizing that there are those in the world that would see every day be a 9/11 in America if only we continue to relax and forget, and pretend.  We have forgotten we have an enemy, and this enemy wants our America punished and destroyed for the very reasons that make us the nation we are; freedom, liberty, diversity of peoples and religions and beliefs and causes.

What lies ahead for us remains unclear.  We continue to fight a war half-heartedly.  We continue to capitulate to those who visited this death and destruction upon us.  We continue to seek ways to "get along" with an enemy we can't see, rather than destroy the ones we can't seem to be convinced are there.  We will continue to fall short of victory in any confrontations with our enemy as long as we debate amongst ourselves whether WE created the enemy or whether the enemy really exists but in our imagination.  And while we debate, and re-define, and capitulate, and cajole, our enemy grows stronger, and people around the world continue to die senseless deaths.

This, the greatest nation on earth deserves better.  Those who fell on 9/11 deserve better.  Those who have fought and died since 9/11 deserve better.  You and I, and the rest of the world that wants to live in peace to raise their children and grow old with their children's children deserve better.