post 9/11 America

When I was a kid I got into a lot of fights and my dad would tell me that when another person makes you angry you have lost. Being taunted into anger means that you've given over a little of your power to them.
He never said not to fight. He just said that I shouldn't fight because someone made me angry.

Fast forward twenty something years to the present and we've just passed the 10th anniversary of 9/11. I wasn't going to say anything about it but then I tweeted "I don't understand people who wave flags on 9/11 but change the channel at dying first responders."
I decided that I should offer some explanation to that. I was in downtown Chicago on 9/11. I wasn't scared then. I'm not scared now of terrorist. Okay a bit but I'm less scared of terrorist than I am say- home invasion.
When you say terrorist Timothy McVeigh has about equal chance of jumping to my mind as Bin Laden.
It makes me angry when someone says that 9/11 changed everything. The only thing that changed is that our country lost it's cool. A little bit of our power was given away.
For the everyday person who says 'we'll never forget 9/11' nothing has really changed. In previous wars people stateside were expected to help the war effort by using less fuel and recycling (thinking specifically of metal ) but post 9/11 Americans get angry if you try raise the efficiency of vehicles and to a large degree can't be bothered to pull out a separate bin for glass (used to pave roads) plastic (reduces oil consumption) or metal (requires less energy to recycle).
And then there's taxes. In previous wars taxes were increased and people were encouraged to by war bonds to pay for the effort. Post 9/11 America calls raising taxes socialism even though the wars they support cost more than helping their neighbor who is among the 1 out of 10 Americans who can't find a job.
Post 9/11 Americans are afraid and angry that something will change in their life. They don't want to think about the rest of the world or the rest of the country. They want to go to work, relax, go to sleep- rinse and repeat. The only thing 9/11 changed for them was that it made the horizon go out past where the floor in their living room meets the wall.


Not every American is a Post 9/11 American. Though you may think I was condemning Republicans, being republican doesn't automatically make you one. Being a Democrat doesn't exonerate you. Most people are at least in part guilty of turning a blind eye to the big picture and how their lifestyle is contributing to it.