9/12

Yesterday I woke up at around 9:00 AM. It was my day off but I had slept late the day before and today I needed to do things in the community and around the house. I did my usual morning net surfing - 411Mania, Haloscan, Drudge, my dads new blog, and finally Global Research. I scanned Google News for stories about Iran and Russia and when nothing caught my fancy I checked my e-mail, posted a story my wife had sent me and then got on with my day, which included filling out a job application to bring to Downtown Tampa and loading some old books in my car to sell at a used book store.

Somehow in the midst of all of this I managed to forget yesterday was 9/11.

Here’s the rub on that; while people were utilizing yesterday as a day of remembrance for the tragic terrorist attack by Al Qaeda, to me it was just another day. When I say that I am referring to the fact that for me, every day is 9/12. On 9/11 we were attacked and many innocent people died. That’s terrible and those who lost a loved one on that day should mourn and I don’t begrudge people that. I myself spent much of 9/11 trying to calm my co-workers down at the foster care agency I worked at in Brooklyn before I took the long train ride home. For people like my co-workers as well as many others, it marks a day to reflect. That is fine and to those people I say God bless.

However, the day that stands out to me now is not the day that we were attacked but rather the following day when those of that thought we were protected from enemies abroad by two large oceans and a stockpile of nuclear armed ballistic missiles woke up in a new world. It was the day many of us regular people learned for first time about Islamic fanaticism and terrorism. It was the first time that the importance of the struggle between Palestine and Israel to US survival was driven home and made very clear. 9/12 was simply the day we as a people started dealing with, albeit by force, the outside world.

I have said in articles passed that 9/11 changed my life and the way I think about things. 9/11 affected my decision-making, my likes and dislikes and how I regard people and whom I should continue to deal with. It began the process of maturing me from what Christopher Noxon calls a rejuvenile to someone prepared to be vigilant in world now shown to be tremendously dangerous. On 9/12 I along with many others began to confront the world rather than the typical American response to forget there is an outside world at all.

In the five years since 9/12, none of that has changed. This blog is an extension of the belief that I should be doing something to contribute to the global society. The fact that I concentrate so much on foreign affairs is a tribute to the idea of never forgetting that we are not alone in the world and that our decisions have repercussions and considerations that are as complex as they are far reaching.

I still spend a majority of my interactions with friends and co-workers talking about Iran, Iraq, war, the global economy, domestic elections and alternative fuels, much to the chagrin of many whom have either completely forgotten about the seriousness of 9/12 and everyday thereafter or just don’t have the gumption to follow any news besides celebrity gossip. I can’t even visit a sick friend at home without the topic of terrorist attacks coming up in casual conversation rather the old stock and trade of religion and homosexual jokes (you know who you are).

My point is this, why should I waste my time trying to remember an event that I haven’t forgotten in the first place? More to the point, why should I spend time trying to get you to remember an event that if you have forgotten it, apparently doesn’t have any meaning for you, as it does for me and many others? Each day that I interact with someone either in cyberspace or real life, I am reminding them of the importance of 9/12, the importance of staying informed and confronting the world outside of the US. It’s in my blood now.

Folks I bring up the importance of knowing and confronting to my drug addled teenage children in rehab on a regular basis. (BTW you haven’t lived until you’ve seen a half illiterate Mexican-American teenage girl try to teach political history to her peers.)

Granted the bigger reason I didn’t write about my reflections on 9/11 is because I just plum forgot and that should be rather telling. Commenting on what we should do about our enemies or what our enemies seemed to have planned for us has become so ingrained in my daily routine and so commonplace a thought for me that yesterday seemed like all other days. Frankly, I didn’t need to reflect and neither should any of you.

If by now you are not living in the world 9/12 and are instead still mucking about in the world of 9/10 then any sappy remembrance or call to action will fall on deaf ears anyway. If not then you don’t need my comments either. You already know the importance of staying informed and why we need to fight this war.

I will say that if I had remembered I might have gone with a bit more of an appropriate story instead of killer dildos. They can’t all be winners here.

Please keep in mind that I’m not saying that remembering 9/11 isn’t important but rather that remembering that we are still living in a world after 9/12 and beyond is more prevalent.

And just so I’m clear about what it means to live in the world of 9/12, it means that no matter what governments do at this point, the Islamic, Arab and Persian fanatics still want us dead. Many of their own people don’t necessarily agree with them but lack the will to confront them openly and so it falls to the West to fight them ourselves. But to many in the West, it is believed that humbleness; appeasement and cash will somehow quell the hatred our enemies have for us. Those “allies” are even more dangerous than our enemies.

On this day of remembrance, keep in mind that the enemy is still out there. It cares not for your opinions, wants or needs. It is like a great big and dangerous spoiled brat of a child. And this child has lots of friends.

Tomorrow we return to our regularly scheduled broadcast of Iran, killer dildo’s and stories about my wife.