I Remember.....

Today's headlines:
CNN.com: "Behind the staggering number of deaths are the individuals, each of whom left behind family, friends and co-workers who feel the national tragedy on a personal level."
Spiegel.de: Commemoration - A Country Mourns.
MSNBC.com: "We Stand Together" & "World Remembers"

And then, something I really didn't realize at all, a heart-wrenching headline from ABC News: "The missing - The search for loved ones continues even five years after the attacks."

What does it mean to "remember?" The dictionary definitions:

re‧mem‧ber –verb (used with object)

1.	to recall to the mind by an act or effort of memory; think of again

2.	to retain in the memory; keep in mind; remain aware of

3.	to have (something) come into the mind again

4.	to bear (a person) in mind as deserving a gift, reward, or fee

5.	to give a tip, donation, or gift to

6.	to mention (a person) to another as sending kindly greetings

7.	(of an appliance, computer, etc.) to perform (a programmed activity) at a later time or according to a preset schedule

8.	Archaic. to remind.

–verb (used without object)

9.	to possess or exercise the faculty of memory.

10.	to have recollection (sometimes fol. by of)

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[Origin: 1300–50; ME remembren < OF remembrer < LL rememorārī, equiv. to re- re- + L memor mindful (see memory) + -ārī inf. suffix] (Source: Dictionary.com)

The definitions I find most fitting: think of again, remain aware of, to have a recollection. I think these definitions say that it doesn't take a lot of effort to remember.

I don't have to think very long to remember where I was on September 11, 2001, when I found out about the first plane crashing into the World Trade Center. I easily recollect that we thought it must be a a pilot's or air traffic controller's error of drastic proportions. But then the question - couldn't he (the pilot) see the building coming far enough in advance to avoid it? It must be a media prank. It can't be a reality. But then, I don't have to exercise the faculty of memory very hard to remember watching the other crashes and events unfold with total disbelief and crushing sadness. It was in fact a reality, America was indeed under attack and people were actually dying as we watched.

And yet it still seemed so unreal, didn't it? It seemed like something that could never, ever, ever happen on American soil. But why not? Why did I think that we were invulnerable? I don't know exactly, I can't explain. Americans commit crimes against Americans daily. The level of violence in Detroit alone is staggering. But somehow, an event of this magnitude, crafted with such animosity, hatred and basic disregard for innocent human lives, seemed completely impossible.

And then it happened.

And a nation, no a world, mourned with the families of 2,973 people killed in the attacks.

And then we woke up to a changed world on September 12th. A world where "terror" was an international term, no longer relegated to describing events in geographically distant places. A world in which you sometimes have to allow yourself to be subjected to very personal searches to board a plane. A world where you can't ride the trains in London or Spain without worrying. A world in which Turkish vacation resorts experience a string of bombings. A world in which planes are turned around on what seems to be a regular basis. A world in which bombs are found in German train stations, sparking a debate about invading the coveted privacy of this nation by installing security cameras in public locations. A world in which you can't take any carry-ons on the plane with you if flying out of London and no liquids whatsoever if flying into the United States from anywhere else.

And on September 12, 2001, our nation went to war.

And then the outpouring of international support changed. Our international "allies" didn't support the decision (Although I did hear that Freedom Fries are back to being called French Fries in the US. And the camaraderie between President Bush and German Chancellor Angela Merkel during his visit in July was a huge news story here and probably at least made the press in the US). And those who did support the US were widely criticized in their own countries. I don't want to comment on the war, others have done so enough and you can read about all that somewhere else.

But I do question if violence can be used to stop violence? Can democracy be a successful form of government for every country? I don't have the answers and I wouldn't begin to pretend that I do. I don't think that many people can answer these questions and those who think they can, generally can't....Regarding the war on terror (as it's come to be known), Angela Merkel said something I find worth repeating: „Wir müssen hier angemessene Antworten finden, wie wir den Terroristen begegnen, ohne unsere fundamentalen Prinzipien und Grundwerte in Frage zu stellen“, sagte die CDU-Chefin (Source: www.welt.de/data/2006/09/09/1030381.html). In my (not professional) translation: ~Here we must find suitable answers as to how we confront the terrorists, without bringing our fundamental principles and basic values into question.~

I have my own opinions on President Bush, which I'm also not going to post, because I just don't think it would add any benefit (and you can find every shape, shade and manner of opinion elsewhere on the web). Suffice it to say that no matter what I think of his Presidency, I think he has the toughest job in the US. I can't imagine directing an entire country. I can't imagine asking so many men and women to go into potentially deadly situations. I can't imagine having my every move, my every decision, nearly my every breath so closely scrutinized by an entire planet. Can you imagine waking up on nearly a daily basis to newspaper headlines which rake you over the coals? Can you imagine carrying so much weight on your shoulders? How would you sleep, eat, vacation, laugh...?

You might tell me that he signed up for it, that he asked for it. You might tell me that he has an army of staffers to support him. You might tell me that he doesn't take it so personally. You might even tell me that he's not even making the decisions. And I know some would tell me that he's not doing a good job of it.

I've heard it before. But the fact is that he has the job. And I know that when, in the course of my job, I make my small-scale decisions which affect others in any way at all, I carry that decision with me personally. And so I have to believe that each time a soldier's life is lost, President Bush feels some burden of responsibility for having deployed the soldier in the first place.

Am I naive? Maybe. Do I want to generally believe the best of everyone? Absolutely. Is that what makes me who I am? Definitely.

On another blog, I read a request to the media to stop playing and replaying the footage of the events of September 11th as if it were reruns of a drama. I'm not there, so I don't know what's being shown stateside on television, although from the last 4 anniversaries, I think I have a pretty good idea. At first, I agreed. Why aggravate the sadness of the families by replaying the images?

But then I wondered - how quickly would we forget if fell out of the media spotlight? What do you remember about Oklahoma City? What do you remember about Columbine? What do you remember about the Space Shuttle Columbia? How often do you think about these (or other) national tragedies? This is not to say that I think about them any more than you do. It's only my thought on how easily events are lost into the recesses of our memories.

So I come back to my first question: what does it mean to remember? I think it's defined pretty well above. So I add to that a second: what's the importance of remembering?

I read somewhere that with remembering, we show the younger generation how the world as it is today was created - remembering provides the historical context. I also read that remembering explains the inheritance received by the generations that follow. I read that it hurts more not to remember. I read that by finding answers to the questions of the past, we might be able to build a better future.
The first one strikes me - if I don't learn about the past, how can I understand the present? Doesn't knowing about what my grandfather lived through help me to understand my world better?
Explaining our inheritance - don't you want to know why we do what we do? This is a good reason as well.
I think that last one resonates with me the most. How can we make the world a better place tomorrow if we don't understand why it is the way it is today or why it was as it was yesterday?

And mostly, if we don't remember, aren't we bound to repetition?

So, with a heart heavy with sadness, I, along with so many others, remember......
Photo: Peter Morgan/Reuters, Source: http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/040910/
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