The government has been shut down for over a month. The politicians and president have dug in their heels and it looks like the stubborn heads will continue to prevail. It’s the advent of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the media all seem to be focusing on the same questions. How did we get here? How did the country become so polarized? How did racism become so overt? When did it become okay for white supremacists to march in our streets? The answers ranged from blaming the current climate on Donald Trump to socialism. Unlike the pundits, I think there’s a very easy answer to these questions. September 11, 2001. The day our entire world changed.
The worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil in our history. Thousands of dead. The fall of the towers and the subsequent memorial are a visual reminder that we aren’t invincible. And one might assume that we’ve moved on and past the event. This is so far from the truth. The events of that day were a trauma that affected us all. And like any trauma survivor we made decisions that put us on the path to this exact moment in time. As a collective group, we were scared and frightened and instead of dealing with that fear we chose to make decisions based on it. We tamped down the emotions and pretended that we were moving forward. When then President Barack Obama announced that the Navy Seals had found and killed Osama bin Laden, we told ourselves that the nightmare was over. Except it wasn’t. It still isn’t.
Immediately after the attack Congress passed the Patriot Act which gave the intelligence community broad powers that infringed on our personal freedoms. And we said that was okay because they would only use their powers for good and would keep us safe. We targeted Muslims and anyone of Middle Eastern descent and rationalized it by saying that we were just being cautious. Better to be safe than sorry. They told us that we had to take off our shoes and limit liquids that fit in a baggie in order to pass airport security. And we said it was okay because it was just to keep us safe and protect us from terrorists.
And then the precautions got broader in scope. We were told that we needed to look for anything that seemed out of the ordinary. Be more aware of our surroundings. Call in anything that seemed out of the ordinary and scary. At the same time, we armed police the same way we arm our military and we told them to protect us because “they” are out to do us harm. The fear and the paranoia ramped up for both regular citizens and law enforcement. A black man in a predominantly white neighborhood can’t be right. Call the police. A Hispanic man in a predominantly black neighborhood doesn’t look right. Call the police. An immigrant who doesn’t speak English must be saying threatening things and is out to get us. Call the authorities. You don’t look like me and that scares me. We need protecting. We need a wall!
It’s never any one thing that sets you on the path to where you currently stand. It is all the little decisions and choices that are made. The country is polarized because we chose to make it so. We caved in to the fear and hate mongering under the rationalization that we had to sacrifice in order to gain security. And just as the terrorist attack of 9-11 sent us down this path, the border wall has become the symbol of our next major choice. Do we continue to feed the fear, or do we break free and really put the past behind us? Can we let go of our fear long enough to move past racism and bias over a difference of skin color, gender or sexuality? Those are the choices facing us right now.
It’s now four days later and the government shutdown continues with no end in sight. Families are suffering. If the news reports are right, our economy has lost more than the $5.7 billion demanded for the wall. Yes, our country is at a crossroads. Our enemies figured it out before we did. Do we continue to let fear destroy our democracy and control our future? The answer is we can’t. We have to fight and we need to support each other while the battle rages on. Because if we lose the fight, then the Bin Laden’s of the world will have won. Land of the free. Home of the brave. It’s time we remembered that.
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Ted Bundy is the most fascinating serial killer to me. I just watched the docu-series on Netflix, “Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes.” I’ve read books and watched other documentaries on the man, so there wasn’t much about the crimes that was new to me. It was interesting to hear him describe himself in his own words. I’m intrigued by him because rather than other serial killers, he seemed to choose to be one. Others have compulsions due to issues with their sexuality or childhood abuse. Ted Bundy has none of that in his background. He was narcissistic and a sociopath. Neither of which necessarily make you destined to murder. Interesting, if twisted, individual. Great documentary.
Oddball thought of the week – If your favorite changes, was the original really your favorite? And that can refer to anything. Color, book, movie or music. Depeche Mode used to be my favorite music group. Now it’s Keith Urban. Do favorites represent current preferences or are they lifelong choices? And if they change willy nilly, then doesn’t that devalue them? Just one of those oddball thoughts that would make more sense after a night of drinking.
