Much is being spoken and written today about September 11, 2001 — much of it very good, much of it very thoughtful.
It is, I think, hard to know what to say, and my feelings about the horrors of that day, and the courageous response, are mixed with those sad and despairing feelings about the day’s long aftermath up to now.
Like so many of us, I will always remember where I was that morning. It is important to remember.
Remember
those who lost their lives, as civilians, as first responders.
those who survived but who bear the scars.
their families, friends, loved ones, neighbors, who still grieve.
Remember
those on UA Flight 93 who sacrificed themselves willingly to keep the plane from its intended target.
those who rushed to the attack sites to bring aid.
those who dealt with casualties in ambulances and ERs.
Remember
how Americans came together to face the tragedy and its unknown ramifications.
how President Bush in the immediate aftermath spoke of unity and diversity, seeking to provide a protective umbrella to Muslim and Arab Americans.
how nations across the globe came forward with aid and support — and the only time NATO has invoked Article 5, mutual self-defense.
Remember
how the news media capitalized on the attacks, immediately framing them in the idiom of slow-motion visuals and banner crawls, leading the French philosopher Jean Baudrillard to say 9/11 “never happened.”
how our politics became very quickly even more jingoistic than usual and have remained so.
Remember
how we became fixated on the need to “bring down” Osama Bin Laden, as if that were an answer to any of the real questions we should have been asking.
how virtually any effort to ask such questions was met with censorship and censure.
how we launched ill-founded wars, characterized by mission-accomplished bravado and costing hundreds of thousands of lives.
Remember
how we have not yet healed the wound to our national psyche, to our “American Exceptionalism.”
how, while the day brought out the best of us, the years since have too often brought out the worst.
We do not remember enough.
Affirming Democracy, Gathering Resistance 
Gary, this is enormously eloquent and moving — thank you! And thank you especially for reminding us all of President Bush’s morally admirable efforts to preserve our multicultural nation in that time of stress.