What have we done?
I don't say "we" to imply that the United States is directly or indirectly responsible for the recent attack. I do not say "we" to imply that anyone in this country did this. I do not say "we" to imply that the innocents in those planes and buildings had determined this fate for themselves. Indeed, the only ones who had any say in determining their fate were the passengers on the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania (God, or whoever, bless all their souls)
I say "we" because we are all one people, no matter how we try to divide ourselves. I say "we" because underneath the surface we are all the same. I say "we" because we are all the spawn of the same algee. We are all children of the same planet, under the same sun, made of the same stardust. I cry because people died. I cry because we are so stupid that we must continue to hurt one another all the time. There has rarely been a time in our species' history when we weren't beating the crap out of ourselves. I cry because we are going to continue killing each other. I cry because we will continue to hate each other.
Glued to CNN on the day that would live in infamy, they cut to a scene in Afghanistan. Explosions. Missiles. No one knew who had fired them or what the purpose was, but everyone jumped to the same conclusion. My brother and mother cheered that the United States had finally done something decisive about it. I cried. The dust hadn't even begun to settle, the rescue crews couldn't even go in yet, there were still two buildings waiting to collapse, and here we were (I believed) attacking innocents in another country without even conducting the beginnings of an investigation. Attacking so we wouldn't look weak and slow. And we are capable of that, too. That's why I worry so much.
I woke in the middle of the night, crying, curled in a little ball and periodically striking out at anything available with the claws. NOT FRICKIN HAPPY. No one is. No one wants this, and those who do only want it because death means nothing to them anymore. People died tuesday. Lots of people died. Lots of people were killed by other people. Stardust attacking stardust. Now we speak of striking back. More people are going to die. Killing people is bad, or didn't anyone ever figure that out? Innocents dying in battles they had nothing to do with, vengance, violence, isn't this what we've tried to stop in other countries? Why is it that when other countries are defending themselves it's wrong, but when the United States does it, it's justified? Why is the Villiage Idiot suddenly unquestionable? Since when is our country the unquestionable? The one trait that truly makes this country great is the undeniable right for citizens to protest their country. When did we become what we fear?
People want to see an explosion. People want justice. People want to hurt someone else as deeply and horrifcally as they have been hurt. People want to hurt other people. That's never ok. Find those responsible and punish them. For men who do not fear death, inprisonment is a far better means of punishment. For men who want to be martyrs, sparing their lives is immesurably more hurtful than ending them. For men who would see the United States collapse in chaos and confusion, the deepest blow we can deliver is to, somehow, continue living, to rise above hatred and vegnance in a way that they never could. More deaths will never right anything.
Patriotism for the sake of looking patriotic is hollow and wrong. It is an insut to those who died. They did not die for their country, they were just killed. Don't spout God bless America to be hip, to be empathetic, to be patriotic, or to be right. God Bless America is not right.
God Bless us All.
God, save us from each other.
