My television set is haunted. The ghosts -- there are two of them -- can materialize on my screen suddenly and without warning. Generally, they make their intrusion right in the middle of an interesting program or movie; and, even though they were assigned no major role in the production, their unexpected appearance is so startling, so overwhelming and powerful, that they immediately dominate the screen, upstage the actors and trivialize the plot.
They are, like most ghosts, the uneasy vestigial remains of an existence cut short prematurely and violently. These visitations shock me into remembering them, or perhaps reproach me for having forgotten them. We existed, they say, we existed exactly the same way as you are existing right now. We are gone now, but you must never forget us.
These unsettling apparitions show up repeatedly on my screen in the most unexpected places -- comedies, documentaries, even old episodes of "Cops".
Last night, for example, I was watching a rerun of Bryan Singer's 1995 "The Usual Suspects" when, at precisely 34 minutes and 37 seconds into the movie, suddenly, there they were and almost immediately, the intricate and sinister machinations of the fictional crime lord Keyser Soze were rendered foolish and inconsequential.
Once again, the ghosts of those two tragic towers reappeared, dominating that familiar skyline, eloquent in their silence, incomprehensible in their size and majesty. We are gone now, they said, but you must never forget us.
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A note from Radarsite: It's that time again. In a few days they will be upon us. Till now, they have been almost lost amongst the roar of these volatile political contests in the raucous arena of our public discourse. But they are still there, waiting quietly in the background. These ghosts. These still unanswered questions.
Who did this? The headlines screamed at us. But has this fateful question posed in that eight year old headline ever been adequately answered? Are we any closer today to agreeing on an answer? Oh, we have all kinds of answers, but they all conflict with one another. Different people have different answers depending on their world view. Was it the work of a handful of fanatical mostly Saudi young Muslim men, representatives of a small radical fringe group within Islam? It was, we are now assured, the work of al Qaeda. We know now who the principle players were, and some of them have been captured and some have been killed. But have we adequately answered that original question: Who did this? Are we really any closer to linking all of the disparate attacks upon our free world back to one source? Or is the truth still too terrible to contemplate? Are we any closer to acknowledging the true source of this onslaught against our world, the core of the enemy's hatred? Is it still too intimidating to even contemplate the idea that it might be one of the world's three major religions which is the dynamic force generating the power of this tsunami of hate?
Have we still managed to avoid confronting that awful truth, choosing instead to satisfy ourselves with flimsy rationalizations and lies -- anything to avoid facing the terrible overwhelming reality of our predicament? Have we still not found the courage to say it? To come right out with it? Our government has yet to find the courage. Over half of the people in this conflicted nation have not yet found the courage to listen to the voices of reason, to heed those authoritative voices of alarm. We still prefer to hide behind those empty but comforting euphemisms: Islam is a peaceful religion. Most Muslims are good decent people. It is only a few bad apples that are trying to hijack a good and honorable religion. And on and on. Anything but the truth. The truth is too awful to even contemplate. It simply cannot be all of Islam, all Muslims who are our enemies.
I would like to think that in these past eight years we had gotten wiser, become more educated, more enlightened and willing to see the world the way it really is and not the way we would like it to be, but have we? Has our national resolve become stronger? Are we willing to confront the enemy head on now, and quit dancing around the edges of this inevitable conflict? Or are we merely rearranging the deck chairs? - rg
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There will never be a day or a 9-11 anniversary that this is no longer a great post!
ReplyDeleteEven Bush, while standing up and fighting the bad guys abroad, had to play the politically-correct game at home with his pronouncements.
ReplyDeleteTo me the real heroes are the handful of Muslims who have put their lives on the line to speak the truth about Islam and reject the very tenets that drive
the terrorists. Unfortunately, they are too few.
I said it then and I say it again now "What a beautiful, haunting, and unexpected tribute! This is the finest example prose poetry - our psalm . . .our prayer . . .our lament. We will never forget!"
ReplyDeleteRef:"It simply cannot be all of Islam, all Muslims who are our enemies."
ReplyDeleteNot all...but in my humble opinion most of them! The more I read the more I'm convinced!
And the more I read, the more I'm convinced that many Americans don't give a damn anymore.
The ghosts of 911 are not so much spirits as they are real to me, for I may be one of the few, but I remember 911 like it was this morning...not yesterday or last week, this morning! But as time puts some distance between now and then most Americans are more concerned with today...and that's a shame.
Last year when then candidate Obama went to Ground Zero, I commented that that would be the last time he would ever go there. I was correct with that assumption.
ReplyDeleteNow we are stuck with a President who appeases those who would destroy us, and praises the faith that caused it.
What have we done?