Nine Eleven

Elsewhere in the blogosphere today, people are calling for justice. I'm not sure there will ever be any kind of retaliatory event that adequately reconciles us with the horrors of that frightful, blue-sky day six years ago. Bin Laden's death, when it eventually comes, will serve as but inspiration for further death. Martyrs beget martyrdom. Justice in such a context is hollow.

We simply live in a different world now. Michael Gecan, in Going Public, a fascinating book on organizing, writes that:

Cultures move like great plates, often unheard and unseen, below the surface, shaping and transforming the terrain we operate on. When these plates collide, when cultures occasionally clash, the impact can be violent and profound.

Our world has permanently shifted, and its terrain will never be the same. We can stop waiting for it to return to some stable place; earthquakes beget aftershocks, and we must accept that. As Green Day sing on "American Idiot": "everything isn't meant to be okay".

As I puzzle through the array of lingering and conflicting emotions, I consider the war outside. Regardless of its litany of justifications, it would not have begun save for the terrorists' attacks. So many victims dead meant lives to be avenged, at least to those with the power to determine the course of our nation and, therefore, the world. Others said: if ever there were an opportunity for peace, this is it.

If peace should become but a distant memory, there is another lesson for us to hold. In those days, weeks, and months following that awful day. We found a unity that exists among us, to share our dreams and grasp hands as we jump together towards them. We can find that common ground again if we seek it. We can work together to build up our communities and create a future for ourselves and our children.

Let us reject fear. It keeps us rooted firmly in the painful past. We will live our lives, embracing what we have in each other. Together, our existence has meaning and purpose. Step out the door tomorrow and leave today behind. Feel the ground firmly beneath your feet, and recognize that, though it has shifted, it is the same ground. Claim it as yours, plant seeds, and grow new roots. If the roots are not rigid with fear, they can flex and weather seismic action that comes your way. Peace despite peril.