Abusing History

Today, of course, is September 11-- a date that for those of us who witnessed it will never be forgotten. Red-letter days like these checker our history books; but while they have meaning for decades, even centuries beyond, the most emotional impact of any event is on those who lived through it. My students sat through videos and movies of the civil rights era protests, and discussed Vietnam and Watergate, but to them, it's exactly what it is: history. For those who lived through those days, read about or saw the events as they happened, and especially those who were eyewitnesses, it's a completely different take. To use September 11 as an example, I experienced the horror of that day along with the rest of you, but for someone who was actually in NYC or D.C., or knew someone who was on the flights, in the Pentagon, or was in the World Trade Center that awful morning, it's vastly different.

So today, like many others across this nation, I'm remembering September 11, from my own vantage point. While I have no problems with ceremonies, remembrances, and the like, I do have a serious problem with certain elements of our society abusing September 11 for their own purposes. Chief among them is our "President," who has invoked "September 11" as a mantra or response any time anyone wants to question or challenge him about anything. But many in his administration are guilty as well, along with many right-wingers, religious extremists, and their ilk. What these people attempt to do, and what they seem to have done well so far, is plant fear into our minds, our hearts, our souls. They've abused history and a solemn day in our national consciousness just to instill fear in anything that happens outside our front doors.

Unfortunately, fear is not the best way to go about anything. As FDR said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself -- nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror..." The same is true these days as well-- rather than let ourselves get tangled up by our own psychological fears, we need to assess how we've reached where we are now, figure out what's wrong, and set things right so that we can achieve our best. While many people may disagree on how to achieve that, we need to first vanquish the fear that has dominated the national discourse the last few years.

We also need to look at the issues and problems we have before us in a rational manner. Since September 11, religious extremists here in the U.S. have browbeaten us over the heads with the Bible, with the word of the Lord, the wrath of the Lord, the anger of the Lord... An angry, patriarchal God-- where have we heard that before? An angry Allah inciting his legions forth... It's the flip side of the same coin. Jesus is the Messiah in Christianity and a prophet in Islam. Why can't both religions look to his counsel, and less to the harsh commandments of bellicosity from the Almighty?

Fear and religion-- they've gone hand in hand for a long time, as anyone who's read any of Jonathan Edwards' sermons or listened to an imam's fiery speech can attest. How to promote peace and love, which are the ultimate tenets in so many faiths? While I could tax my brain and lay it all out for you, I'm fortunate to be able to save my fingers a bit of work, since Bill Moyers gave an excellent speech on Wednesday, September 7, which was excerpted and presented as an article on Salon. Here is his piece: "Hostages to Fear."

My wish today is for there to be increased peace, love, and understanding among all peoples by the next September 11. The first step, I think, is to conquer fear in all its forms, and try to establish bonds of commonality. An impossible task, you say? Perhaps, but that's fear talking...