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September 11th can be a harder day than most for a lot of folks.
Please try to be extra patient with yourself and others today.
Please try to be extra patient with yourself and others today.
I've been reflecting on how the September 11 attacks disturbed our society so much that we felt compelled to respond by pivoting at a national level from post-cold-war peace to a global war on terror and a surrender of liberties and privacy with repeated Patriot Act extensions.
And now, we face a pandemic at a scale we haven't seen for a century, and the government and business leaders who benefitted most from that pivot keep telling us that this isn't such a big deal, that we can just stay the course and this will be fine. No need for another pivot.
But today is a strange day, because days of remembrance like this don't normally occur during the same day as the next pivotal moment. September 11th, 2001 didn't fall on Pearl Harbor Day that year.
But now we are dealing with a protracted tragedy and opportunity to pivot. Today.
But now we are dealing with a protracted tragedy and opportunity to pivot. Today.
Things didn't go back to normal after Pearl Harbor.
Things didn't go back to normal after V-E Day.
Things didn't go back to normal after the Berlin Wall fell.
Things didn't go back to normal after September 11th, 2001.
We get to decide what normal looks like after this pandemic.
Things didn't go back to normal after V-E Day.
Things didn't go back to normal after the Berlin Wall fell.
Things didn't go back to normal after September 11th, 2001.
We get to decide what normal looks like after this pandemic.
When we remember September 11th, 2001 today, we need to remember the tragedy of the lives lost that day in those attacks, and the long-term health impacts on first responders.
We also need to remember that everything changed that day. And it can change again with this tragedy.
We also need to remember that everything changed that day. And it can change again with this tragedy.
We must refuse to let those who benefit from the status quo downplay the suffering and loss of this moment. We must refuse to let them insist that everything will get "back to normal." Normal for them is what we got after September 11th.
I don't want that back. I want better.
I don't want that back. I want better.
Whatever aspirational changes you thought were impossible a year ago may be possible as we navigate this new slow-motion pivotal tragedy.
Talk to people, organize, cooperate.
Start working now to find ways to make sure the post-pandemic world is better than the post-9/11 world.
Talk to people, organize, cooperate.
Start working now to find ways to make sure the post-pandemic world is better than the post-9/11 world.
There are certainly folks who already have money and power working to ensure the post-pandemic world is better for them, with no regard to the cost to the rest of us.
I'm not keen to let them win.
I'm not keen to let them win.
