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By the time this column goes live in the late afternoon on Saturday September 11, 2021, you’ll be on the 18th green, a sign it’s almost safe to pick up. If you read this in Sunday’s newspaper and September 11, 2021 has passed, this is all clear:
We can all start to hate each other again.
Oh, we’ve been doing the dancing the last few days, haven’t we? All the superficial, September 11 do-si-dos. All the reminders to “never forget”. We were again patriotic and thoughtful for the time required. Or was it just show time?
Now we can go back to the big pile of frauds that we really are. Back to our areas of political and ideological battles. Back to feedback loops and echo chambers. Return to Pharisaic rage.
Never forget. Ha. There is a knee. We have long forgotten. We forgot how to talk to each other. We forgot that we could disagree and remain friends. We have forgotten our unity in the face of an abject tragedy. We have forgotten our ability to look beyond political stripes. Remember how we all cheered on President Bush when he threw the first pitch at Yankee Stadium before the World Series started in 2001? He wasn’t a Republican that night. He was our president.
This is why the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil sounds like big nonsense. I can’t imagine a worse way to honor the dead than to hate each other on September 10, pretend September 11, and then continue as usual on September 12.
It’s no surprise that most of this country continues to fail to understand the tentacles and significance of 9/11. It’s about more than remembering the dead and telling stories about where we were on another day that lives in infamy. It’s about remembering how September 11 changed the way we felt about each other. It changed the way we treated each other. It has changed the way we take care of each other.
Momentarily, it turns out. Because even an enemy who used planes as projectiles in the middle of New York could prevent us from slipping into the apocryphal – but unfortunately real – addition to the Bill of Rights: the right to be right about everything.
It’s kind of like what Mussolini once said: “O con noi o contro di noi.” It means “you are with us or against us”.
A nice guy to emulate.
The last few days were nothing more than a good show. Who can express their sadness with the most emphasis on social media? Who can wax the most nostalgic? Who can tell the best story? It’s not about rejecting memories. We all cry differently. But the significance of the September 11 tragedy must be more than our personal whims. September 11 was fortunate to teach us a new way. Instead of …
“We are living in a time of deep mistrust,” wrote journalist and author Ron Chernow about a year ago in the Wall St. Journal. “Deep distrust of ‘the other side.’ What we believe is less and less a matter of hard evidence – or shared national values - and more and more a by-product of our growing political allegiances rigid. “
It has been suggested that going to church doesn’t make you a Christian, any more than staying in a garage makes you a car. Same concept here. It is how we act in our day to day life that determines who we really are. Not how we pose in public. Posting flags on social media with slogans is empty calories. And an insult to all the men and women who have lost their lives trying to save lives. I doubt they cared who was a snowflake and who was a butterfly with debris falling on it.
My apologies to those of you who are still reading this and expecting something on sports. We are resuming the regular programming scheduled for this week.
Sweet reminder, however, of sport and its metaphorical richness. No matter who is participating or who is watching, we all get that sense of oneness watching our teams play. The same solidarity we had following the tragedy of 20 years ago. Don’t be so careful to dismiss sports as the toy department. The games we play provide a basis for how we should strive. And be.
Remember this and write it down: We are only responsible for ourselves. We can choose our behavior. Everyday. We should have learned something from September 11 the first time around. Let’s try not to be fraudsters the day after the 20th anniversary.
That’s the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro
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