[September 13, 2002|Serious Thoughts] 2: [Suffering]

In the days immediately after [September 11, 2001], the US appealed to the world to side with it against [terrorism], both on the basis that combating terrorism is the right thing to do, and because America had just suffered such a terrible attack[You're either with us or you're against us|.] The [world] responded, at least for a time.

Now, let's be clear. Combating [terrorism] is the right thing to do, though very little of it can be done effectively with [fighting for peace is like fucking for virginity|guns and bombs]. Most of it requires [diplomacy], [tact], [mediation], and a [passion] for [justice]. But I digress. I want to talk about the second reason the world responded to the US's appeal: [suffer]ing.

Many people all around the world had [mixed feelings] about the attacks on the [World Trade Center]. On the one hand, they were [horrified] and [grieved]. On the other, deep down, they were [hopeful]. I saw an interview with a [Palestinian] the other day, talking about those first weeks. "We thought [Americans] finally understood what we have been suffering," he said. "We thought that at last they would help us." An [Israeli] would have said the same thing, no doubt.

There was a time, fortunately a brief one, when the American government seemed to use its people's suffering as a [justification] for any action it chose to take. (Using the justification that the US has the [military], [political] and [economic] might to enforce its will on the rest of the world, which is the current policy, is just as mistaken and much more [dangerous]. It is no wonder that most other countries are no longer "[on side]" with the US. But that too is a [digression].) The fact that America has suffered is important, but not for that reason.

[Flashback] to the days before September 2001.

For decades, the [United States] had been fortunate enough to escape the fate of so many countries all over the world. American [civilians] (and [soldiers|military personnel], [Black Hawk Down|for the most part]) were [safe]. As in any society, they feared [crime], but they did not fear [atrocity], unlike the people of [ETA|Spain], [India][Kashmir|,] [Pakistan], the former [Yugoslavia], [Algeria], [East Timor|Indonesia], [Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam|Sri Lanka], [Israel], the [Palestinian Occupied Territories], etc, etc. And in their safety, [Americans] became increasingly [insular|inward-looking], more and more [self-centered], less and less concerned about the impact of their actions on the rest of the world. [Extremism] feeds on that kind of [insularity], and uses the [Axis of Evil|simplistic worldview] it fosters to generate sympathy and funds.

Over the decades, individual [American]s and the American government had supported various [terrorist] and [freedom fighters|pseudo-terrorist] causes. The [Provisional IRA], when it was bombing Britain's cities, killing its innocent civilians, and attempting to assassinate its leaders, received substantial funding from Americans via [NORAID]. The [CIA]'s support of organisations and institutions now considered terrorist is also well documented. I cannot believe my people would have supported, or permitted, such things if the devastation they caused had been as [empathy|real] to them as the attack on the [Twin Towers] came to be.

Flash forward again to the present.

The [September 11, 2002|anniversary] last week allowed people to get back in touch with their [grief] - and their anger. Now, [anger] is like [fire]: it's a good tool, but a poor master. In the aftermath of any terrible event, it is anger that gets us back on our feet. But it also [clouds] our [judgement], and makes us [heedless] of the [consequences of our actions]. In their fury, my fellow countrymen have been tempted to use their [grief] as a [lever], or an [excuse]. "We've suffered," was the argument, "so we're entitled to do whatever we have to to feel safe again." Phrases like "[acceptable losses]" and "[collateral damage]" came up, people nodded [wisely] and looked [stern]. But [two wrongs don't make a right], and making other people suffer will not make us feel better in the end. Pursuing a course of [justice], where [Camp X-Ray|suspects] are [burden of proof|tried] and the [innocent until proven guilty|guilty] are [punished] is part of the answer, but only part.

To really [heal], we need our [grief] as well as our anger. Grief drives us to make something good come out of devastation. It unites us across [ethnic], [cultural], and [national] boundaries, and renews our [empathy]. Knowing what it is to suffer ourselves, we can imagine how other sufferers feel, and be touched by the desire to help them. And in [St. Francis|helping others], we [heal] ourselves. More than that: we [grow]. We become stronger than we were before. We are more than whole, and live in a better world than we did before. This is the great gift of any suffering, the [silver lining] in the blackest cloud.

This is the challenge facing the [United States], and indeed all of the [West]: to [wake up] to the shared suffering of the world, and build out of it a better place for our [EasterBunny|children]. That would be a fitting memorial to honor those affected by September 11.

September 19, 2002 (idea)