nmah1450.xml

nmah1450.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-06

I am a librarian, and Tuesday is always one of my work days. The phone rang before we opened for the day and my branch manager answered it. I could tell she was talking to her sister, and I could tell whatever had happened was not good. I assumed it was something within their family. When she got off the phone, Lynn said, "Someone flew a plane into the World Trade Center in New York."

It seemed like such a ridiculous statement.

First we turned on the radio and listened to NPR. I'm a visual person, so I needed to see pictures. Lynn didn't want to see any TV - she knew it would be too graphic for her.

The first pictures I saw were being broadcast as the first tower fell. That image will remain burnt into my mind as long as I have a memory.

Most of the rest of the day, with reports coming in from Washington and Pennsylvania and false alarms, runs into a blur until school let out. I work primarily with middle school and high school students. I called the school across the street from the library to see what, if anything, their students had been told. Many of those kids come into the library right after school. All they knew was that there had been plane crashes into tall buildings in New York City.

When they came in after school, I sat in the meeting room with any of them who wanted to talk, or to watch the TV news. Most only wanted to know where the planes had crashed. A third grader thought it must have happened here in Fort Wayne to one of the skyscrapers downtown. Those were the only tall buildings he had ever seen.

Within the next days we put up a display of books dealing with terrorism, coping with trauma, New York City, Washington, Islam. Perhaps the most commented upon and checked out books were the ones on Islam. Most patrons said something to the effect of: "Thank you for letting me hear from Muslims in their own words. I needed to know they don't all believe in acts of violence."

We need to remember that America is, as we so often hear politicians say, a great nation. But greatness must also be tempered with humility. That I think is what we too often forget.

The evil that plotted the attacks on our country was planned by people who thought we needed to be taught a lesson, to be brought down a notch. If that was their goal, they failed miserably. In the months since September 11th, the jingoistic boosterism emmanating from the United States has only gotten louder and more incessant. Those who feed off of sterotyping people they perceive as different have had a field day with immigrants, Muslims and others. Many of these actions seem to have been taken in the name of homeland defense. These are not the actions of a nation that wears its greatness with humbleness.

These are the actions of a nation that is feeding off of fear.

When we remember those who died on September 11th, it should be to remember that they were people who came from many places in the world, American and immigrant alike. All were vulnerable and all are equally gone.

Yes, America should fight back against those wantonly kill. But that fighting back should not come as an automatic suspicion of those whose religion or ethnicity, on the surface resemble those of the terrorists. When we give into that kind of kneejerk profiling we give the terrorists a little more of what they want.

They want us to suffer. They want us to feel loss of freedom to travel, to speak out, to feel secure within our borders. When we treat our fellow Americans with contempt and fear, based on outer appearances, the terrorists win a little more.

The victims of September 11th showed us clearly how diverse our nation is. The days following the 11th showed how strong we can be when we come together as Americans. In those days we were angered, stunned, ready to fight back, if only we could find the enemy, compassionate toward others, and yes, humbled to realize that we were not immune to terrorism after all.

Instead of building on that, we came out swinging, not caring who we hit or who we hurt. It is not an atypical American response, but it is not our country at its best either.

Perhaps this first anniversary can serve to remind us of a better way to respond, to show, as Abraham Lincoln once said, "Our better angels."

I hung our flag on our front porch on the 12th. It has been there ever since. I do feel a pride in seeing Old Glory.
I've also been revulsed at the way the printed copies of the flag have become a marketing tool to be hung on the window of every business, usually paired with the phrase "God Bless America." In the days immediately following the attacks, that seemed an appropriate response. As the months have rolled on, it has become gimmicky and cliche-ish. I am saddened when I see the flag used that way, it cheapens everything that happened on the 11th.