Ten years later

We've been hearing the words "Never forget", and certainly on this tenth September 11th there are many things not to forget. No one will forget the terror of helplessness, the terror of escaping, of watching those firefighters walking into certain doom. Not one of us will forget the thoughts we had of the victims in the airliners and their last terrified moments. Each one of us has our own set of memories from that day we will never forget.

In the past ten years, there are other things we have managed never to forget. We have not forgotten how to send people to wars whose purposes are far from clear.

We have not forgotten how to support and invest in companies who send jobs abroad rather than employ our fellow citizens at home.

We have not forgotten that it's easier to persecute immigrants who will work in low-wage jobs than to persecute the employers who pay those low wages.

We have not forgotten how to mislead homebuyers in order to make a profit.

We have not forgotten that it's easier to ignore political fanaticism/incompentence at home, than it is to demand that politicians make decisions that benefit all Americans, not just the Americans in their party.

We have not forgotten that it's easier to think about a national unemployment rate of 9.1% than it is to think about the 17% unemployment rate among Black Americans.

Paul Simon sang "Sound of Silence" this morning. How sad, but how fitting. Financial services organizations no longer serve their account holders, helping customers and businesses grow and prosper: they only serve themselves. The rich continue to grow rich.  The middle class continues to collapse into the ranks of the poor. Employers have decided that "Unemployed need not apply." We continue to talk without speaking, hear without listening, worship neon gods, and ignore the words "written on the subway walls and tenement halls."

There's a saying that "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." Ten years after September 11, 2001, we as a nation are not better, not wiser, not stronger. Given everything we have not forgotten, what in heaven's name have we learned?