Five years ago today, terrorists committed the greatest act of mass murder ever to occur in the United States. Most of us remember where we were and what we were doing when the planes hit the twin towers of the World Trade Center.
The days, weeks, and months that followed the events of 9/11 were filled with hyperbole. "The world has changed forever" was one common phrase to make its way into the consciousness of North America. Things, we were told, were going to change. Somehow, though, nothing much has changed.
We still drive around one per car in gas-guzzling behemoths that ensure our continued dependency on (relatively) cheap Middle Eastern petroleum. North Americans are still becoming obese in large numbers, while people in other nations go hungry. Coalition soldiers, enemy combatants, and innocent civilians have died in the thousands in Iraq and Afghanistan, while "nation building" seems stalled. Life in Afghanistan was lousy five years ago; it does not seem much better today.
Perhaps I am just feeling jaded. I may have expected to see a change in people's attitudes - especially my own. When I lived in Vancouver, my next door neighbour would reminisce about his service in the Royal Canadian Navy in World War II. It was clear that the War was both the "best of times" and the "worst of times" for him. I suppose, it was the time in his life when he felt the strongest about having a sense of purpose.
Things have not changed for me since September 11, 2001. I would not be surprised if they have not changed for you either. Maybe that is the lesson to be learned. External events cannot - and should not - change our lives for us. We should decide to change things ourselves, for our own reasons.
(To Be Continued)
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