9/11- Lessons Partially Learned

The following comes from a speech I delivered at a local church this past week on the subject of lessons learned from 9/11.Ten years on, there are likely just as many questions arising as there were when the Twin Towers went down. Our world doesn’t feel safer, and turbulent events, both good and bad, have filled the new millennium. But as we commemorate the fallen of 9/11, there are three questions for which we at least have some partial answers.First, it’s important to know what we remember. The very thought of some 300 firefighters climbing up the tower floors to their ultimate deaths is one of the enduring memories of that fateful day. When the sun had set, we learned that close to 3,000 people had perished. But that’s not the whole story – not even the majority of it. The most conservative estimates remind us that some 300,000 innocents died violently in Iraq and Afghanistan, all as a result of that devastating day in New York City. Some 300 firefighters; 3000 civilians; 300,000 Iraqis and Afghans – the numbers tell an advancing story.This week there have been ceremonies, the unveiling of plaques, brass bands, eloquent tributes, and television specials bringing back enduring memories. We grieve through all of it. But what of the Iraqi mother we read of in the news that had a son blown up by a errant western bomb? Or the father in Afghanistan who helped the coalition forces construct a school only to have his wife killed by the Taliban as a consequence? There are likely more than 300,000 such stories – numbers, which if taken in context, could literally drown out our own grief. It doesn’t minimize the sadness we feel, but it does place it in perspective.So let’s be clear on what we are remembering here. A barbaric act that eventually resulted in the loss of hundreds of thousands of innocent people. From the dead Canadian trooper in Kandahar to the grieving widow in Tikrit, we have learned of history’s shadow side.It is important to confirm why we remember. In the ancient Hebrew scriptures, the Koran, and the Bible, we read of God calling on people to put an end to poverty, injustice and oppression. But corrupt governments in developing countries and distracted citizens in the affluent West never took that charge seriously. In poverty resides anger; in destitution there is hopelessness; and in oppression there can be the tendency to let go of human decency and grasp at ideological solutions. This is what Bin Laden counted on and from such human pain he planted his base.But this global angst is no longer confined to terrorist terrains. Many have been delighted at the democratic impulse of the Arab Spring, but have been more surprised at the demonstrations in London, England, in Beijing, and, yes, even in Tel Aviv, as constrained citizens watching their life’s savings filter away, rail against economic inequities. Soon this will happen in Canada. This is what happens when those who govern, either in the political or corporate sector, seek their own embellishment over those they are supposed to serve.There are presently two billion people living in this world on less than $2 a day and they are increasingly anxious for justice. What else would we expect? Wouldn’t you take to the streets when the wealthiest two decades in world history have nevertheless left you with little while others soar in their jets or drive their fancy cars?Why do we seek to remember on this special day of sadness? Because the problem hasn’t been solved. The injustice of a decade ago has been transcended in many ways by the economic injustice that has infiltrated even the wealthiest nations. We can’t forget as long as deprivation exists in the world.Which brings us to how we remember. Following World War One, when Remembrance Day was first established after the carnage of the trenches, those who first remembered claimed in unison “Never Again.” A mere two decades later we were back at it. Then there was Korea, Vietnam, and a long string of conflicts that were as ideological as they were costly. We allowed ourselves to cut foreign aid repeatedly, go soft on international development, leave women around the world lost in injustice and powerlessness, adopt trading practices that impoverished nations at the same time as they spoiled us. We got our free trade while others received only impoverishment.Much of this took place after the debacle of 9/11. It’s almost as if we’ve learned nothing. Our lives will remain insecure as long as we permit injustice in this world. We can blame corrupt governments all we want, but if our buying or trading patterns have elevated and protected the despots then our hands are dirty as well.I have traveled extensively in recent years and no matter the remoteness of the places visited, I always run into a Canadian. Many are religious; others are humanists – all are compassionate. While others put their anemic trust in cruise missiles or advanced fighter aircraft, these people are taking freedom, justice and economic empowerment to those very places where terrorism can flourish and they drive a stake through the its heart by their compelling dedication to a better world. They are the complement to our men and women in uniform, only they fight with school books, medicines, women’s advocacy efforts, research acumen, and the great Canadian compulsion for human rights. Like the firefighters in the Towers, they go forward while others retreat because they have learned the lesson that the best way to remember is to defeat injustice at its source. We remember best when we take on the worst.