Remembering today

September 2001 seems like 100 years ago and just yesterday. I remember thinking in the days right after the terrorist attacks that the feeling of communality, so pervasive at the time, would not last. I believe it did not survive long. The country has become fractured, far more than before the attacks, which, I believe, stems from the administration's response to the events of September 11th.

Anyway, today is a day to remember all of the innocent victims - of the September 11th attacks, of the ensuing war and of the terrorist attacks before and after. It is also a day to remember the members of our armed services who have died in the War on Terror (I dislike that term but can't think of another).

I searched for a quote that would sum up how I felt about today, one that captured my feeling of needing to remember everyone who has been affected, but I came up cold. I did find this quote from Mark Twain, which I thought spoke directly to the aftermath of September 11, 2001, specifically the war in Iraq:

Statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception.


May we always remember the innocent and the brave and may we never be fooled by cheap lies again.