September 11, 2010

I will always remember this day. I remember feeling so angry, helpless. I felt sad, yet inspired by those that gave their lives in the service of others. I remember everyone in America polarized and everybody became uber-polite and friendly in what seemed like an all-for-one mentality. I remember the candlelight vigils held by people all over the world. The planet grieved for our loss.

Then I remember America's leadership pissing away the world's goodwill. Leveraging this heinous act into a money making machine that has yet to see an end. On September 11, 2001 I felt outrage. I wanted to punish the guilty, swiftly and mercilessly. I wanted to send Chuck Norris in there kick some terrorist butt. But ultimately I wanted justice. True, American justice.

There were nearly 3,000 deaths on that fateful Tuesday. Yet, almost 6,000 soldiers have died since in the name of fighting "terror." The war has no thoughtful objectives save for continuous destabilization. Most alarmingly, this perpetual war has allowed tremendous expansion of discretionary power to the executive branch of our government. I now fear that mighty America, once embodied by the heroes of WWI and WWII, serves only to develop record-breaking quarterly profits of trans-ocean companies, instead of the people who shed blood and sweat in her name. Something has to change.

In the words of former president James Madison:
"No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual war."