Twenty years later and this is still the only day in American history like this. (Except the burning of the White House, War of 1812, 8/24/14, a response to York.) That is what we felt in those days. In WWII this is what Europe looked like, a continent. This is what it looks like when war happens. This is what traumatized a nation. In twenty years many things have happened since. Incredibly, it took no time at all to forget how that day felt. No time at all, and there were people who argued it was staged. That’s the world we live in. No time at all and politicians started thinking, “We will lose power if this remains the narrative.” No time at all and the reality of a war became a preamble to twenty years of claiming it was America that turned aggressor. Twenty years and they still work to identify the bodies. Twenty years of victims. Twenty years, a lifetime for a new generation born after and growing up in the shadow of fallen towers. Twenty years after a morning in which I wa
The rat was in the White House. Vile, Diseased, Infested, Vermin. And yet for all that There was also Something exotic, Challenging every preconception, And sometimes that Provokes Inspiration, Shaking loose The doldrums, The humdrum, The routine. It was an interesting four years. And it will be For many years To come. History won’t soon Forget. Although, You know, Stranger things Have happened.
I don’t know, I’ve never particularly Had a problem Integrating the world. But that’s the problem That so often happens For others, And I think It’s the biggest problem. It’s great to know How things are different But to keep them Locked up in little boxes, Separate, Apart, Deliberately, Defiantly, Angrily, Defensively, As if something will be lost... And I get it, Sometimes There have been efforts To lose identity By force, To integrate By eliminating A minority’s features, And that was always wrong. But it’s also wrong To repudiate The melting pot. It’s wrong To rob yourself Of the ability To embrace unfamiliar things Because you think It might threaten The integrity Of what you’ve got. But listen, You have no integrity If you fear such a world. You lose far more Than you retain If you hide from The possibilities. If all you experience Is an echo chamber Then eventually You go deaf. So this is a message For all my sisters and my brothers.
Impatience can make us all barbarians. Something to think on as this pandemic drags on...
ReplyDeleteI think it made some of us barbarians.
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