These are some reflections in response to a friend’s Facebook memories about the 9/11 attacks, and our current political situation.
So much I can say about this. I had just started work in the Texas Tech College of Education building a month prior to the 9-11 attacks, so I saw the TV news reports after the planes hit the towers from the third floor library with our media specialist. It was surreal in so many ways, but I remember being upset about how we were rushing to war in Iraq in the months that followed. Dick Cheney was not a good leader for us in those times of crisis, and neither was Bush Jr. It was such a disappointment to see Colin Powell speak at the United Nations and repeat lies about WMD / weapons of mass destruction. Up to that point he had been one of my life role models. So disappointing and disheartening.
We felt so vulnerable then after the 9-11 attacks, but unfortunately, vulnerability remains in our open U.S. society today where we enjoy tremendous privilege. We are living in an age of AI cyberwar now, and we are SO vulnerable, in part because agencies tasked to defend us have been crippled and dismantled. As author Timothy Snyder has observed, we are committing “superpower suicide” in so many ways today.
We (the USA) continue to fight an illegal and expensive war in Iran, and are being led, frankly, by incompetent people that really don’t know what they’re doing when it comes to foreign policy or military leadership. I’ve spent some time in the Middle East, initially in Turkey, when I was young, and later in Qatar and Egypt. The post-World War II leadership of the United States was fraught with many bad decisions and tragedies, but I do believe the world needs aspirational leadership which supports the values of freedom, justice, human rights, and self-determination. Unfortunately, we’re now living (in the USA) under an increasingly authoritarian government that continues to swiftly move towards autocracy.
But we cannot give up hope. Our institutions have entirely not failed us, and we have many people still in positions of leadership who are ethically and morally grounded. We can organize, protest, educate each other, and we can vote. We can peacefully resist and many of us are. Our collective struggle for human rights, justice, equal treatment under the law (and just the fair administration of the rule of law) is a long saga that continues. Our chapter in this story is still being written. Together, I am convinced we are in a struggle to “heal our culture.” There are important roles for each of us to play. Cruelty, greed, hate, racism, bigotry, misogyny and fear will not win. We cannot and must not lose hope. We must find strength in community, through prayer, and through a shared commitment to love each other and be good to each other.