Tuesday, September 11, 2018

It has been nearly a generation now.

17 years since the skies of a beautiful September morning turned to horror, blackened with the flesh and blood and bones and hopes and dreams and plans of  3,000 souls gone in a moment, changing our nation and the world forever.

17 years of war.

My wife and I have raised a family in that time.

My nephew was born 3 days earlier. He just turned 17. A Junior in high school.

My youngest daughter was 3. Now a Junior in college.

My oldest daughters were in junior high. Now married with families of their own living too far away.

With our six grandchildren.

Except for my two oldest none of these children or grandchildren or any of  that generation have known a time without America at war, although I doubt most of them realize it. Afghanistan is something that occasionally "intrudes" on their life during the evening news or newspaper headlines. But they don't understand why.

They don't connect Ground  Zero and Manchester and Bataclan and Nice

Beslan

and Benghazi

A generation of TSA and Homeland Security

Of taking off your shoes to board a plane

Only passengers beyond security

A generation of barricades in front of public malls and stores

Of police armed like soldiers

of ubiquitous intrusive surveillance and The Patriot Act

A generation of see something say something.

taught that a backpack on a park bench wasn't something someone forgot

but a potential bomb

A generation of watching the news

waiting...

A generation who has never known life without war

of a war without borders

never known a time of peace

and likely never will

a generation not of innocence lost

but never allowed to be

a generation with far too many who have accepted this as normal

If they even think about it at all

That crisp September morning

filled with ash and smoke and fire and fear

Seared into memories just a generation ago

About what evil has brought us to this place

In their young lifetimes

Just another casualty

of this generation of war

4 comments:

Always On Watch said...

Great post, MR.

My students in my homeschool classes just don't "get it" about 9/11 -- or Islam, for that matter.

Always On Watch said...

I WILL NOT accept "the new normal."

paul scott said...

9/11 was a well prepared false flag from inside the Pentagon, by the entire Ziocon monopoly of your country.
It was designed to commence the destruction of 7 countries in so many years. Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Sudan.
During this times approx 2 trillion dollars went missing from Pentagon account.
The facts names and the entire story is easily available on the web.
There can be no doubt that free fall of the towers was caused by thermite explosives lining the walls.
Oh well, lets sing a patriotic song.

Kid said...

A sane view of where most of us are.