9/11. On this day we remember the innocent and the courageous who lost their lives in a moment that shocked Americans and shook us out of our complacency.We remember how sad we were for their families and how angry we were at those who dared attack us on our own soil and those that celebrated it in their streets.
I am conflicted when I remember. I remember clearly my initial feelings of rage, hatred, and desire for revenge. But now I think about these words: “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” And equally insightful: “You can’t shake hands with a clenched fist.” (Both are from Mohandas K. Gandhi.)
On 9/11/01 nearly 3,000 people lost their lives needlessly. Our country rallied and threw hundreds of billions of dollars at the problem so it would never happen again. No one asked where the money would come from. There was no talk about a deficit or bankrupting our grandchildren. There was no guarantee we would succeed and no one expected one. We didn’t even know who the enemy was.
Now, eight years later, how many billions of dollars have passed from one clenched fist to another? Were these wise purchases? Do we feel safer? ARE we safer? Was that money spent as well as it might have been?
Every year 18,000 people in America die because they could not afford health care. Put another way, since 9/11/01 144,000 people have died from lack of affordable health care—that’s 48 9/11s. No one reads these victims’ names and there are no tolling bells. Can we at least address the problem now? We know there is no guarantee our first attempt will succeed. But that hasn’t stopped us in the past. And the time to do this is now because another 9/11 happens every eight weeks.
