Today...9.11...fifteen years ago, our country suffered the most devastating blow ever that was not perpetrated by Americans. Pearl Harbor was before that. In all honesty, it can be debated how much our government knew about Pearl Harbor before it actually occurred. We will never know, but we do know that 15 years ago we just didn't think it was possible anymore. We were oblivious. We were for the most part fat and happy. We had an unbelievably successful economy at the time. More Americans than in the history of the country were buying homes--little did we know that was smoke and mirrors that would eventually collapse. We had a new President--one that for all his personal failings we believed there would be no news media circus around him and an intern or some other flusie, and he embodied memories of better times. Little did we know his Presidency would take us into a never ending war. We had the first African American Secretary of State; one that many would push to run for President but who would sadly not run because of his wife's fears of racial inequality. Our biggest worries at the time were China and North Korea, but China was looking more and more like democracy was a stone's throw away. The NATO coalition was looking more like it wasn't needed anymore and the EU was proving successful in creating a unified European continent. Peace and prosperity was the order of the day.
Half way around the world, in the background noise, we knew there were still tensions between Israel and the Arabic states. We were vaguely aware that they had religious issues and that there was little to no tolerance there. There were many of us that served that knew we had left a job undone after Desert Storm, but even we, including me, thought or at least hoped that it would never come to a head requiring us to go back there. Peace and prosperity has never been the order of the day for most of the people in that region of the world. They blame the US and many of our European allies. To most of us, this makes no sense whatsoever. There is actually some justification for that mindset, but that's not what this blog is about. This blog is about us, the US of A, America and Americans.
Since 9/11, we have become completely disenfranchised. While the initial response was a strong cry of unity, fifteen years later we are coming apart at the seams. The reality of our world, our America, has had a bright spot light showed upon it and all the cockroaches have come out of the woodwork. The reality is the America that most of those people on the other side of the world dream of isn't the America that we have. Some of them think that we all live a life of privilege--we have running water, electricity, let alone cars and homes and land and, and, and. Yet, not everyone here has a home and not everyone here is equal. It's not really debatable. It's a sad fact. And I'm not speaking just of the racial issues. Even within the "white" of this country, there are gross inequities. While women make up over 56% of the population, women make up only 4.4% of the executives in this country. Our own military only in the last couple of years opened up all military jobs to women. Although we have Freedom of Religion and one of our Founding Fathers was actually an atheist, we still have plenty of religious zealots in our own country that insist and demand laws that push their religious beliefs on others. A black male in this country when being pulled over for a traffic violation is 95% more likely to have his car searched and/or be arrested compared to his white counterpart. We still have, even in Berkeley California, the epitome of the ultra liberal stereotypes, people who will start screaming in a Starbucks at someone speaking another language that they have to speak English. Disenfranchised might be an understatement.
A long time ago in an blog I said that we, Americans, are like a dysfunctional family. In fact, all families are dysfunctional in some shape or form. There are always the black sheep, the favorites, the whining, the exulted,...and the glue. The glue that holds us together is the Constitution of the United States of America. Most Americans haven't even read it. Fact--88% of Americans say they've never, NEVER, read the Constitution. I'm amazed and mortified. The glue that holds us together and we haven't even read it. This is like throwing yourself into the middle of the ocean without ever learning to swim. Sure, you might quickly figure out how to tread water, might even be able to doggie paddle, but you're not going to last long and certainly are going to have a very hard time getting anywhere. The glue that holds us together, the very thing that is what keeps our country swimming, and only 12% of us even know what it says. The rest of us are just guessing and going by what Joe Blow tells us. Some people are intimidated by it. It is written in simple English, well, 230 years ago grammatically, but simple English all the same. From experience in many conversations over the years, I know for a fact most people have never read it, but some will argue tooth and nail about something that they have no clue about based only on what they heard from Joe Blow. It's like having a conversation with Rain Man. The glue that holds us together means a lot to all of us, but most of us don't have a clue what it says.
Were these problems non-existent on 9/10 of 2001? Sigh. No, no, they were still here--all of it and then some. We had and still have problems with domestic violence--15% of the American population. Think about that. It means that where you work, one out of 10 people standing around you are in an abusive relationship. We send someone selling marijuana to jail for 20 years mandatory sentencing and give a rapist caught in the middle of the act by two witnesses who held him until the police arrived--no question this guy is a rapist--just 6 months. We give a man who raped his stepdaughter less than a year in jail. We are the "great melting pot" of the world--almost none of us are from here unless Native American, and yet, we will insult people that come here in hopes of better life from certain countries just because of our own insensitive, ignorant prejudices. We sometimes are the epitome of hypocritical. We want to make the rest of the world as free as we are--while we are still not all free. Freedom isn't free--it is hard fought for and hard to maintain. We are the biggest example of how hard. Freedom is also not fair, although that is what we claim. Fair is not a rapist going to jail for less time than a pothead. But in typical human, not just American fashion, it is not an issue for most of us unless it affects us. Our complacency is where we fall short of true Freedom.
So today 15 years ago, some crazy men decided to take down a shining beacon of what our country represented to them. Ironically, it unified us for an amount of time--we were angered, and like Admiral Yamamoto wrote 70 years earlier, the sleeping giant was awakened and filled with resolve. We wanted to end the mess that we somehow knew was our fault, although none of us really knew exactly why. Much like our Constitution, we know someone else knows and we trust that they will make the right decisions. Have they? The real estate bubble burst. The automotive giants tanked. The economy took the biggest hit since the Great Depression. There are all kinds of greed and political reasons behind all of it, but that's not this blog. This blog is about US, Americans, and how divided we have become since that fateful day. We are exhausted by all our own failings and our own hypocrisy. Grams used to say "you don't know what someone else has lived through until you have to walk a mile in their shoes". No "white" male is ever going to know what it is like to be a "black" male or vice versa. No rich silver spoon trust fund baby like Trump or Hillary is ever going to know what it is like to be middle class or less. They'd sell us out in a heartbeat to never have to walk in our shoes. The divide in this country is that sell out. They've sold themselves and us with them. All of these politicians and the mass media--divide, controversy, mass shootings, riots. All of this keeps us divided, keeps the money rolling in for them, and we are little more than entertaining news bites--pawns in their shitty chess game. Where is that unity, the outcry, for each other while they promise to tear up the Constitution? Oh right, 88% of us have no idea what it says. The glue is still in the bottle and we are letting those we elect put it in the trash while they laugh all the way to the bank.
On this day, remember the unity and outcry of 15 years ago after the initial shock wore off. Remember how it didn't matter if someone was black or white, male or female, natural born or immigrant. All that mattered is that this is our country, our United States of America. Our resolve to protect the ideas of our Founding Fathers and the fledgling country that has been a beacon of hope for so many all over the world. The Declaration of Independence where we believe all to be created equal, the Constitution and the Amendments that we have created to maintain our beliefs in equality and freedom. Even though we are often hypocritical, when the chips are down, we do walk the walk. We do not falter. Today, remind yourself that we are ALL Americans and try to remind yourself from today to next year today, everyday, that we are stronger united because that is the respect we owe all those that gave their lives that day 15 years ago, to all those first responders who gave their lives and to all those families that suffered. Stand tall every day--see each other and respect our differences and say it in one voice for all the world to hear again, "We are the United States of America, imperfections and all, but we are United. "
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