Lucky Old Sun

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It was such a beautiful day, just like it was 24 years ago.

This is the anniversary of 9/11 attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center, severely damaged the Pentagon and killed nearly 3,000 people.

The sun was shining so brightly back on that morning in 2001, the kind of day where you’d think nothing could possibly go wrong. And then it did.

I watched the reading of the names today, like I do every year, and it was so painful to hear the stories, to see how these poor people have suffered for all this time.

Many of the readers hadn’t been born when the attacks occurred and they have grown up with a terrible gap in their lives.

The world has changed so much since the attacks and not for the better. For a while people would ask if we had learned anything from the 9/11 attacks, but I haven’t heard that one in a while. And with good reason.

Human beings—especially Americans—aren’t very good at learning from tragedies. And I include myself in that group.

I can distinctly recall as I walked toward the Manhattan Bridge, with the Trade Center smoldering behind me, telling one of the people I was walking with that I was going to stop complaining and be grateful for what I have. That one didn't last very long.

What shocks me is that not only did not learn anything, though, is that we seem bound and determined to be more hateful and destructive than ever.

I used to say that my father, who was born on Sept. 11 and fought in World War II, wouldn’t recognize America today. Now I don’t recognize the country I was born in.

Today’s ceremony shared news coverage with the story of Charlie Kirk’s murder. Kirk, a conservative activist, who had a history of making vile, racist statements, was shot to death while speaking at Utah Valley University.

I will shed no tears for Charlie Kirk, but I don’t want to live in a country where people are randomly assassinated. And these political killings are on the rise.

I have never seen America this divided, which is hardly surprising considering that we have a hate mongering fascist occupying the White House.

During the reading of the names, one young woman in an army uniform spoke to her departed relative in Spanish and I prayed she wouldn’t be tackled by ICE agents and thrown into the back a truck before she finished.

There’s always hostility between the two parties, but I feel like we’re slow-walking toward a second civil war.

America is on a collision course with some very hard lessons, ones that we won’t be able to ignore. And we may not be able to survive.

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