On this, the seventh anniversary of the attacks of September 11, all kinds of things will be published and spoken about what the day means. Some will be eloquent, poignant, provocative. Some will be superficial, supercilious, even repulsive. Many will exhibit a political edge, even seek partisan advantage.
No surprise. After the initial shock which unified Americans in grief and rage, September 11 has come to mean so many different things to different people. For some, calling it Patriot Day was the proper way to commemorate it. Others see that as just one more attempt to gin up nationalistic fervor.
I'd like to suggest that wherever we are at 2 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, Kossacks set aside three minutes of silence today to remember those whose lives were lost in 2001. For some, that will mean remembering friends or kin who died in New York, Washington, D.C., or Pennsylvania. For others, the thoughts will hit less close to the bone.
The consequences that emerged from September 11, including two wars in which hundreds of thousands of people have been killed, the ascendance of a berserk administration of liars and criminals intent on demolishing the Constitution, and the intensification of top-down class warfare by old and new plutocrats under the guise of national security, must not be forgotten, of course. But these we think of and discuss every day.
Today, for just three minutes, I hope others will join me in remembering with silence the 3000, Americans and others, who were killed that day.