Ever since 9/11/2001, it seems to me that nearly every action involving our foreign relations comes down to something regarding that tragic day. No action done in the middle east is about terrorism, and is country x in some way aiding it, or harboring terrorists? Every press release from the Bush presidency seemed to come with a reference to that date. The rallying cry of patriotism was "never forget" and anyone who didn't want the government to do anything in its power to bring those responsible to justice was unpatriotic. This was the mindset for such a long time, and still is for quite a few Americans today.
As a country, I know that no one will ever forget that day. It's a tragic one that is forever tied with America. But I wish that we could accept it as something that has happened to us in our past, and we need to stop letting it drive our decisions.
Ever since that day, to me at least, it seems people are so determined to not forget it and the people who lost their lives that day that we've lost sight of what really matters. It was an incredibly tragic day, and I do feel sympathy for the families who lost loved ones that day. But the death of 3,000 Americans shouldn't be the basis of major decisions and as a rallying cry to justify every action situated around that. As this TSA official likes to point out in the 60 minutes interview.
According to this statistic, there we 13,000 fatalities related to drunk-driving the USA alone. On average, we cause our own 9/11 every 4 months due to drunk driving. Why hasn't anyone come forward demanding a war on education and prevention to cut down on drunk driving? Where is the military action to seek out and thwart anyone's attempt to go out and drive drunk? Where's the billions of dollars to cut down this statistic?
Then there's this article, which talks about how there we more homicides in Chicago then solider deaths in Iraq. In what has become to viewed as a great failure of America, what about the crisis in one of America's major cities? What has been done there to reduce that rate? One of those groups of people died in a foreign country more than 6,000 miles away, and the other happened in the middle of America. Yet I don't see anyone in Congress passing forth a bill to spend a massive amount of money to try and lower this.
Then there's this news, which 40,000 women a year die the USA from breast cancer. which average to about 3,000 deaths every 13 weeks. Now I know there already are numerous organizations and charities that go towards funding cancer research and cures, but I never see anyone in D.C. trying to pass a bill to authorize billions of dollars a year to fight "in the war against breast cancer."
Maybe I'm over-reacting to it, but it's all I've ever heard. Being in college, I grew up hearing about how we must protect America and its citizens, and that we will do everything in our power to make this happen. But at what cost? When do we, as citizens, stand up and draw the line and say "Enough!" I'm tired of that date being used as an excuse to justify occupying another country and spending ungodly amounts of money to make this happen. The USA already has enough problems in its own borders, and I honestly think we need to worry about those first then the actions of another country. This may sound selfish, especially as a world we grow more connected to, but I think you have to have your priorities in order.
And yes, never forget the lives lost on that tragic day, but realize that what happened happened. We can't undo it, or go back and try and stop it. We accept it as something that has happened, and then we move on with our lives. That day will be remembered by all, but it should not be used as the basis of our decision making.