"Never Forget"

Just a little bit ago, I tweeted this:

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It got a few retweets.  Most people understood where I was coming from.  One follower sent me a DM asking if I “really believed that”.

Yes.  Yes, I do.  Very much so.

First of all, of course I could “never forget” 9/11.  I watched it happen on live television.  It was only nine years ago.  But what most people really mean when they say, “Never forget,” is, “Never forgive.  Never heal.  Never stop being afraid.  Never stop hating.”

9/11 was a brutal act, perpetrated by ignorant, hateful men.  It will long stand as one of the evillest events of the modern world, and I say that as somebody who doesn’t even particularly believe in a black-and-white, good vs. evil world.  However, I refuse to live in the same emotional state I was in on that day, which is what a large portion of the “Never Forget” crowd wants.  They want you to live every day with an open, furious, confused, terrified wound on your soul, and they want that to guide the way that you perceive the world, the way you vote, and the way you respond to the actions of people who wallow in bloodshed and profit.

But, perhaps there’s a different thing you should never forget.  Maybe you should never forget the way that you, and the country, were on 9/10, because nobody, and I mean nobody, not a terrorist, not your neighbor, and not the government has the right to change, or demand that you change, who you are, fundamentally, as a person.  For awhile, the phrase “pre-9/11 mindset” was an arrogant insult conservatives used to paint liberals as childish Polyannas, blind to or willfully ignorant of the modern dangers of the world.  Anybody who didn’t whole-heartedly rally behind the impulsive rush to war was branded with this phrase.

Well, I still have a “pre-9/11 mindset”.  I am still the same person I was on 9/10.  Just as kind, compassionate, selfish, optimistic, disappointed, friendly and distant as I was on that day.  I see no reason to let a ragtag group of murderous fanatics shape what sort of person I am.  Nobody should.

So, this is the anniversary of 9/11, and this is the last word I’m going to say about it, because I’m still living my life, I’ve got shit to do, and I’m afraid I won’t be joining in the constant one-upping of the previous person’s grief.

Never forget, indeed, but it’s okay to let that wound scab over a bit.  It’s the grown-up thing to do.