I was getting ready to take my first test of my junior year in college and turned on CNN. What?!?!? A helicopter had flown into the World Trade Center? Or at least that was the first guess. Then, it happened. Live on television the second plane flew into the second tower of the World Trade Center, and fear filled the nation, the world and my heart.
Nothing like this had ever been imagined. If you would’ve have wanted to make a Hollywood film about something like this, you’d have been laughed out of the room because it was such a preposterous suggestion. Yet now, we were all watching it live on television. It was not a movie, it was real.
What gives me more sadness then remembering that horrible day is what has happened since. Fourteen years ago I had never seen more unity in America and the world. Over 1 million Iranians took the streets in Tehran to voice their support for our country in our time of need. Everyone rallied behind the United States and there was a sense of brotherhood as I haven’t seen since.
But fourteen short years later the reality saddens me. The United States is now more ideologically divided than anytime since the Civil War. We are still fighting wars that few American citizens seem eager to end. The American government is still keeping 28 pages of the 9-11 report secret, so survivors, family members and American citizens still don’t have the truth. Furthermore, it has been almost impossible to get the American Congress to pass the now famous “First Responders Bill” made notorious now by Jon Stewart’s activism. Add to this Congress’s lack of ability to provide body armor and proper healthcare for the veterans returning from the two wars began by the US. And fourteen short years after this horrible tragedy world polling shows that over 70% people in the world think that the USA is the “biggest threat to world peace.”
How has this happened? How did we squander this opportunity? How have we become so divided?
It’s easier than ever to not pay attention to the problems in the world. Distraction and escapism in the form of reality TV, manufactured news and busyness do a great job of keeping people ignorant about truly significant events. I hope we can all agree that war and supporting the first responders and veterans is more significant than reality TV and fantasy football… but that’s a hard message to sell to modern America.
I understand how much easier it is in this world to be ignorant to the reality. But, it in no way is helpful to only remember tragedy once a year and to forget the daily tragedy so many live in. To forget the Syrian refugees or half of the world that daily lives in poverty is not helpful, but only continues the trend of apathy and ignorance all too apparent in our world today.
Modern culture has the capability to enable activism or to infantilize us… We all make our choice.
No comments:
Post a Comment