We’re knee deep in 9/11 testimonials today, which isn’t a bad thing.
For U.S. citizens remembering that day a quarter century ago, it can still be traumatic. It was a day so awful, it’s almost impossible to describe.
But if we’re thinking about it, let’s really think.
What have we learned the past 25 years?
Whether you knew someone who died, someone connected to someone who died, or just sat numb in front of the television, trying to process the country’s most surreal day, it’s still weird and sad.
It was so awful, everyone remembers where they were when they learned of the attacks. Well, except one guy.
I’d just flipped the television on while getting ready for work and saw the Pentagon in flames.
If the caffeine wasn’t already working, seeing that sure woke me up, along with the instant adrenaline surge of dread, realizing a long and sure-to-get-ugly war just started.
But who really remembers how we got there?
I don’t mean just since we supported Afghanistan during the Russin invasion - for which I was also alive and agreed it seemed like a great idea - but all the way back more than a century.
Who remembers how the victors redrew the world map after two world wars (during which killing civilians by the thousands became policy on both sides, whether anyone thinks it was necessary or not).
Who remembers world powers overthrew elected leaders half a world away by proxy to manuver history for greater wealth?
A million different things had to happen among dozens of nations to get us to 9/11.
There wasn’t a U.S. conspiracy, as far as I know. Osama bin Laden, his cronies, the hijackers, and whoever else knew beforehand were responsible. They pulled those collective triggers and got what they had coming. They were extremists, an easy lesson we still haven’t quite absorbed.
There are reasons for everything. And a million reasons took the world to 9/11. And who benefitted from 9/11 and 20 years of war?
What are we doing to make sure it doesn’t happen again?
I don’t know. Nothing?
I hope we resist efforts to politicize the anniversary.
I hope we resist efforts to blame people who had nothing to do with the attacks just because of their religion.
I hope we resist politically-induced hysteria today.
We won’t.
Remember how you felt that day, because you can easily feel that bad again. And do whatever you can to prevent ever feeling that again.
How much have we learned?
In 2026, we’re still fighting wars without a clear reason anyone will admit to, and people are still dying horribly because our leaders don’t take their responsibility for human life seriously.
We haven’t done enough to stay independent of the Middle East and its conflicts older than any of us, that will clearly still be happening when we’re all gone.
We’re still allowing greed and power lust to influence our country’s foreign and economic policy.
We’re not looking out for each other.
We didn’t learn anything.
On the bright side, maybe we've learned that we are slow learners.