Revolution Evolution

Revisitation

More than half a decade has gone by since September 11th, 2001. For most of us, this is an eternity. Many of our careers have changed paths. Many of our lives have changed tracks. Many of us have achieved the next 'big thing' in life, and many of us have stopped waiting for it. After all, change is the only constant thing in life.

But, solemnly falling on a Tuesday, like that fateful day, 9/11/07 will make us all revisit the irreversible devastation that changed Lower Manhattan, America, and the world, forever.

Working in the District, I walk by Ground Zero to our offices at Two World Financial Center (the building with the green dome, on the left in this picture) everyday. A day hasn't gone by, that I haven't seen visitors stare ominously at the site. A day hasn't gone by, that I haven't seen fresh flowers placed on the border nets, or praying folk shedding silent tears .. be it in memory, or in shock as to how inhuman humanity can get.

What hurts more than the fact that one of our worst nightmares is now a reality, which sadly exists and stares us in the face everyday, is the sheer futility of nearly 3000 deaths. We call them heroes - martyrs, even - but that is merely to extol them. They were ordinary people, with the same attributes, the same drive to succeed, the same dreams, the same bad habits as any one of us. Let's be realistic and call them what they really were - victims of dastardly circumstance.

We mourn their loss, with a heavier heart, knowing very well that the unethical Republican Government hasn't spared even this sad occurrence as a piece of political propaganda, to fuel its profit-centric war machine. Needless to say, America sympathizes with them, else they wouldn't have re-elected Bush, would they?

Last year, today, I blogged about "spinning the wheel", and how our world is in dire need of a return to innocence. This year, I am reminded that our foundations, our basic morals, and nearly every Holy Book in existence, all teach us to learn from our mistakes. What happened that day should have been a global wake-up call to end devastation, or at least, reduce its impact on innocents.

Tomorrow, while millions pray in silence, thousands gather in memoriam, and a few people stand up and lash out at the inadequacies of governments, courts, commissions and senates, much will be said about how it is not too late, and how we can still learn from 9/11, and put an end to all the issues that led to it in the first place - oil politics, religious terrorism, territorial extremism.

Sadly, somewhere deep down, we will all collectively, heave a sigh of resilience, and the way we have been for over half a decade, sum up all that verbosity into two simple words.

Wishful thinking.