tp158.xml
Title
tp158.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2003-03-03
TomPaine Story: Story
Sept. 11 is my birthday. Last year, after jetting through the night from Washington, D.C, my wife and I had beheld the Pentagon scaffolding only hours before it was struck. I awoke in L.A. to the horror of an event that would change things forever.
At first, like so many others, I seethed with anger, despair, revenge. Then, after the debris cloud had settled, after the better angels of Lincolns time had descended into our own, I began to reflect upon 9-11s larger import.
The attacks were more than an alarm; they opened a portal into a whole new consciousness. Beyond the detractors who say America had it coming, and the jingoists who say we should never deserve such a terrible blow, there is the growing realization that we cannot act the same way anymore. We cannot be arrogant unilateralists, policing the world at our whim. Oil fields, drug wars and Cold War recidivism cannot dictate our statecraft. There were no excuses for the atrocities of 9-11, but there certainly were motivations. It is our duty to try to understand them, to prevent their re-emergence.
We have learned this much: Democracy is fragile and can be undermined from both abroad and within. Tragedy can be exploited for political and commercial gain. Security without freedom brings neither. Regrettably, the global sympathy that flowed so freely after the attacks has given way to resentment as the administration becomes ever more bellicose.
Science of Mind, a nonjudgmental religious philosophy founded early last century, stresses the oneness of the universe, the indivisibility of humankind. It is time we ended the archaic duality us versus them that gave rise to Sept. 11. What unfolded on my birthday -- a day I will mark with renewed purpose this year -- has made me appreciate that necessity even more.
At first, like so many others, I seethed with anger, despair, revenge. Then, after the debris cloud had settled, after the better angels of Lincolns time had descended into our own, I began to reflect upon 9-11s larger import.
The attacks were more than an alarm; they opened a portal into a whole new consciousness. Beyond the detractors who say America had it coming, and the jingoists who say we should never deserve such a terrible blow, there is the growing realization that we cannot act the same way anymore. We cannot be arrogant unilateralists, policing the world at our whim. Oil fields, drug wars and Cold War recidivism cannot dictate our statecraft. There were no excuses for the atrocities of 9-11, but there certainly were motivations. It is our duty to try to understand them, to prevent their re-emergence.
We have learned this much: Democracy is fragile and can be undermined from both abroad and within. Tragedy can be exploited for political and commercial gain. Security without freedom brings neither. Regrettably, the global sympathy that flowed so freely after the attacks has given way to resentment as the administration becomes ever more bellicose.
Science of Mind, a nonjudgmental religious philosophy founded early last century, stresses the oneness of the universe, the indivisibility of humankind. It is time we ended the archaic duality us versus them that gave rise to Sept. 11. What unfolded on my birthday -- a day I will mark with renewed purpose this year -- has made me appreciate that necessity even more.
Collection
Citation
“tp158.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed May 19, 2024, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/784.