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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
September 11th: It Is Only Tomorrow That Today Will Matter To Any Of Us Printable Version PRINTABLE VERSION
by Parker, Canada Sep 30, 2006
Human Rights , Peace & Conflict   Opinions

  

Today is no particular day. It is September 30th, 2006; it is just another day in my life and in most peoples lives. But I picked up an old Time magazine from 19 days ago paying tribute to September 11th. I looked up any articles written 19 days ago on that monumental day. It seems the world was still living in September 11th, 2001, not the 11th of 2006. I don’t know what sparked my sudden interest in that particular event 5 years down the road but I was in search of something unknown to me at the time. And a scary reality was what I found.

September 11th. A glorified tragedy. More than 3000 lives, 4 commercial airliners and 3 American landmarks are gone forever but the importance of them are seared in the memories of millions of lives. It was what touched the hearts of millions and generated condolences from even those who were fighting their own wars, for and against terrorism, halfway across the world.
Is this what it takes to touch a heart and open an eye? Is this what it takes for the world to realize there is a problem? Is it laziness, ignorance or both that with all the advanced technology in the world, thousands continue to die from causes that are fully preventable?

Five years later, I’ve moved on from the emotional scars of that day. The scars are still there, just faded. My life and perspectives have also changed, but it has continued. It is today I realized that I may have moved on, but the world and all the problems of yesterday have not.

“War… gunman… serial killer… shot to death… x dies… bombing… threat… killer… corrupt… drug bust… prostitution ring…”.

Read a news article. Any article from any point in time and I can confidently say, at least 3 of these words, if not all, appear in a headline. If it is on front page, it is the tragedy of the day. If it only appears on a page that is not the first and even worse… pages… it is the tragedy of mankind. Since I could read, these were the words I’ve always seen in the news. I’d always wonder why with all the police, the media coverage, the taxes, the security, all of these headlines continued to appear the next day and the day after that. Then I realized. People were dealing with the aftermath, not the root cause.

To me, “War on Terrorism” is the biggest oxymoron I’ve ever heard. Everytime I hear it in the news, I laugh. Did they ever think that maybe it’s the war that initially caused the terrorism? Perhaps it’s was the first faction that decided to solve a problem by inflicting violence and fear that fuelled a retaliation with greater violence and fear. Since then, it seems like that is the only way we know how to settle a dispute. Looking back at history, war could kill but it could never silence and so continues the bloodshed.

So here I am today, armed with my opinions of the world. I am no politician, philosopher, scholar or economist; I’m merely another person with another set of values, opinions and aspirations. But today, something about the way I see this world is skewed. Every world leader who claims they are ‘helping’ seem to be helping themselves. In an age where medicine adds longevity to life, we find ways to shorten it with drugs and murder. Today, money walks, talks and mocks. People are still fighting over one man’s ideas, one man’s losses and another man’s gain from centuries ago. Then we write it down in history, this war of today, and 20 years from now, an x number more will die fighting for the losses of today, yesterday and all the days before us. In a world where information is so accessible, technology is so advanced and education is so widespread, we still continue to allow history to repeat itself.

Seeing the world for what it is, this sad, crumbling place, I wonder: When did the face of our currency become red for blood, black for oil, steel for weapons and grey for our tainted faith?






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