Granny 'D' Haddock Reflects on September 11 TragedyIn the space of an hour, thousands of Americans had their lives snuffed
out by acts so cold-blooded that we cannot wrap our imaginations around
what has happened. I have three grandchildren who, until Tuesday
morning, worked near the World Trade Center. We held our breath until
they found their ways to telephones and finally, on foot, to bridges
and home. Many of their dear friends must be among the less fortunate.
It is a nightmare from which we cannot wake.
As we emerge from our pain, as we begin to accept the dimensions of
this loss, we will of course resolve as a nation to make our world
safer.
Whenever we suffer a tragedy, we ask ourselves, "how can we prevent
this in the future?"
In answering this question, all Americans must participate and add what
they can to the discussion and the plan. It is an opportunity for the
political left and the political right to respect each other's point of
view and their differing interpretations of history.
Those who see the attack as a military act of war are like the cancer
surgeon who must find the tumor and kill it. Some minds indeed have
become cancerous in this world and they threaten our survival. They are
just as emotionally capable of exploding a home-made nuclear weapon in
our cities, or of poisoning our air and water with biological,
chemical, or nuclear toxins. What we saw Tuesday morning, horrific as
it was, was essentially the loss of several large buildings and
thousands of their inhabitants. We risk the loss of whole cities
--millions of people-- in today's charged international environment.
While the surgeons will cut, others will look to a deeper question: how
can such cold-bloodedness arise in the hearts of our fellow men? As
the nutritionist examines the lifestyle that may lead to disease, we
begin to ask: What can we do in the future so that love and respect are
nurtured in the place of hatred? Surely we cannot kill our way to love
and respect, where our only true security resides.
The surgeon's will undoubtedly have their way for a time. The news
shows --that incidentally are never interested in covering the reasons
why so many people are angry at American policies-- are now full of
swaggering militarists who are looking, please, for someone to kill for
peace. They will have their way, for the emotions of our nation are
running to red.
But those who seek true security must not stand aside in silence. Those
who know that international justice is the only road to international
peace must continue to speak their minds. It is not un-American to do
so. It is, on the contrary, un-American to fall into a state of
fascism, where our civil liberties are forsaken and the human needs of
Americans and of people around the globe are forgotten.
The secretaries and file clerks and young executives in the stricken
office buildings, and the children and mothers and fathers and sisters
and brothers aboard those four airplanes would not have been the
targets of hatred, had we Americans better expressed our highest values
throughout the world --had our government expressed in all its actions
the fairness and generosity that characterize our people. That
disconnection between our people and our government does not excuse the
cold mass-murders committed by terrorists, but it helps explain it, and
we cannot stop it if we do not understand it.
There is much we can and must do to regain control of our own
government and to stop its participation in cruelties around the world.
That is our best road to long-term security for our own people. There
will always be breast-beating generals to lead us into further horrors.
Let us pray that some of our leaders are wiser than that, and can see
that the real road to security does not lead us to places like Kabul
with our mops and brooms, but to places like Langly, and to the mammoth
political fundraising events where our representatives are bought away
from us.
Many media pundits glibly say today that America will be less free from
this point onward. If they mean that we will have to have our luggage
examined more closely, we can all agree to that. If they mean that we
will all have our telephones tapped and be rounded up for criticizing
the government --that we must be fascist to be free-- then they are
talking illogically and immaturely.
In my long walk across the US, and in my everyday experiences, I know
that Americans are kindhearted and do not wish to colonize and exploit
any other people on earth. Our central question --the question that
will determine the security of our cities in the future-- is this: can
those American values be expressed by the American government? Can we
be more a government of our people? Can we get the greedy,
short-sighted interests out from between us and our elected
representatives?
Our struggle for campaign finance reform and other democratic reforms
will now take a back seat as blood and its disciples have their day.
But until we clean up our government, we will all be the targets of
rising international rage, and our children and grandchildren are not
safe.
Doris "Granny D" Haddock