September 11: Remembering a horrific day

It was my worst day.

Yes, this is another clich? commentary on 9/11, but isn’t that the least we can do to remember the most horrific day in American history?

I think so. I could ramble on with one of those stories you’ve heard a thousand times over the last four years, but to sum it up:

There was no baseball that day, only collective weeping, hopelessness, unprecedented anger, shock, confusion, and depression. And on a day I was looking forward to the release of the new Bob Dylan album, “Love and Theft,” the music, for once, could not cure the devastation.

I will never forget or forgive the atrocities of Sept. 11, 2001, a day darkened by demons who wished to attack freedom, the very thing that gets me up in the morning.

Out of all the girls I’ve ever dated, no one has ever succeeded in breaking my heart as severely as those cowardly strangers did that day.

A year and a half ago, I visited New York City, making the eerie trek to Ground Zero, where I hoped to find closure.

The site was easy to find; it was the only area in our greatest city surrounded by utter silence. I looked upon the emptiness, that tremendous hole where, in a perfect world, the Twin Towers would still be standing.

Beneath the big cross, comprised of steel beams from the towers’ remnants, I pressed my hung head against the cold fence, wanting to cry.

But then I got up again.

Last year, on the third anniversary of the attacks, I read an issue of the student newspaper of Mercer University. When asked, most of the students said that Sept. 11 did not really affect their lives and that it does not cross their minds anymore.

How can many of us say that?

To say the least, it is discouraging. It’s true that things have been perverted since then.

The tragedy was exploited by this president, enabling him to engage in the quagmire of Iraq that has nothing to do with the event, discrediting the nation for years to come.

But this debate does not undermine the pain we all share.

I know a little bit about world history, so I am not being blindly arrogant when I say that I believe the United States of America, a land stolen from the Indians, a country of slavery, Jim Crow laws, Richard Nixons and George W. Bushes, is still the greatest place this planet has ever had to offer.

To the 19 hijackers, wherever you are, and to those Al-Quaida members still breathing, I want to send a message. We know you’re very Internet savvy, so maybe someday you’ll accidentally “google” the words “Brian Shreve” and come across this.

Despite your beliefs, there is no paradise, no virgins waiting for any of you. If there is a hell, I am almost satisfied just knowing I will see you there.

Just so you know, we did laugh again, the Statue of Liberty re-opened and a few days later, the Braves took the field.

You say we are a country of imbeciles. Even if we were, to quote a better man, these imbeciles “shall not perish from this earth.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Sep 9 2005. Filed under Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry