Nine Eleven. I find myself thirteen years post such a traumatic moment in this countries history, and I see that PTSD has become some badge of honor that we Americans flash with disregard. The year is Two Thousand and Fourteen, however the terror alert is higher than ever, our troops are in all corners of the world, our borders are exploding with refugees created by our own policies, our law enforcement is better armed than the terrorist groups we trained in the middle east, our soldiers are paid so little that they leave the army to work for private contractors, who now own our politicians along with many many other corporations.
Sound like a negative perspective? Well....
This country has been at war since the 1600’s. Why did I not know this? Did you know this? In 1675 the original colonies fought King Phillips war, it was against the native tribes in the area of New England, it lasted until 1676. A nice long lull of 13 long years of something that could be claimed as peace, then another skirmish is entered between the english colonies and France, now your right, technically we aren’t America yet. Now this little incident went on until 1697, and then a full 3 years of peace ensues. The year 1702 brought another conflict between the English colonist and the French, this time called Queen Annes war or the Spanish Secession. This clash lasted for 11 years until 1713, when we see another generation of somewhat stable peace follow.Thirty one years later, in 1744 a conflict between the french colonies and Great Britain disturbed the peace again, four more years of fighting before this finally ended in 1748. The colonies now had some peace and quiet for about 8 years when the French and Indian war broke out,starting in 1756 and not ending until 1763. Now the French and Indian war was between the French colonist and the Indians and in 1759 the english colonist found themselves at war with the cherokee nation, so there are 2 actual battles being fought within the America’s. And before I go any further I would just like to point out that all of these wars are to accumulate land and resources, land that was already occupied by other peoples, for many hundreds, if not thousands of years. These conflicts and skirmishes are not some zionist religious movement, a blatant land grab, this is strictly for profit.
So America’s real ( eh hmmm) history starts in 1775, with the declaration of revolution that went on until 1783. At this point, we are a new nation, with new ideals, with new inspiration and new dreams. This is the point where we want to believe that the war mongering patterns were replaced with a constitution, one that recognized the basic human rights of all humans, no matter color and sex, but what really happened was that it took our government about 15 years to make another conflict public, this time in 1798 with the Franco- American war between America and France. This lasted for a little over a year and then the Americans found themselves right smack dab in the middle of our next conflict in 1801, the Barbary wars, there were a lot of countries involved in that so maybe we could get an excuse for that one.These tussles were off and on like a bad love affair for almost the next 15 years, with another fray erupting between the Americans and Great Britain in 1812, pulling resources from the Barbary troubles, and those pesky natives had to start trouble at home during all these other issues, from 1813-1814 we had the Creek Indian war right here.
I guess this soured Americans and finding gold in the hills of the west must have taken some of the pressure off of the war machine because once again Americans were able to enjoy about 15 years of peace. In 1836, the state of Texas went to war with Mexico and once again the American war machine roared back to life, with a quick Mexican-American war following within 10 years. This seemingly was over by 1848, when just a few years later, in 1861, Americans decided there were no more natives to fight so they started fighting themselves. Most of us learned about this conflict in school according to the winners (smirk). Following the decimation of the country as the Americans of all color had known it, it took them all of 33 years, one generation to fire that war machine back up and enter the Spanish American war in 1898.
Fifteen years of peace and WWI comes on the scene, devastating many parts of the world, but it didn’t take long, once again, just one generation or 21 years before we found ourselves tricked into war once again. Fifteen years between WWII and the Korean war, 7 years between Korea and Vietnam, 8 years until we find our soldiers in Grenada, 5 more years in Panama, 1 year after that the original Gulf war, 4 years we are in Bosnia, and then in 2001 the twin towers come down, and we find ourselves in Afghanistan. I could continue, but I think I made my point, 9/11 did not start on 9/11. It started with unprecedented land grabs over 300 years ago. Thy son shall pay for thy fathers sin.
Speaking of paying for my fathers sin, My daughter came home saying “white people just need to understand...”
So I hear this from my beautiful ‘half arab, half white” daughter and I think to myself, must be time to fight amongst ourselves again. History does repeat itself if we do not change patterns. One pattern very obvious in the above timeline is that it takes about 1 generation to forget, and that goes both ways.
This is in no way meant to be a history lesson, or a bashing of my country. I love my country, I love the ideals written into our constitution that at least acknowledge that people count, even if they are not always interpreted as such, it is at least a good start, maybe.This is only meant to show a pattern. A Pattern that our government has kept our country stuck in from the start, a pattern of using the war machine to be what upholds our economy, kind of like robbing peter to pay paul. I think most people have come to the conclusion that our government has sold America out, the corporations and private sector now has control over both parties, so our vote no longer matters, it’s the same damn shit on both sides of the fence- all fertilizer, no grass.
And although I risk sounding negative, I must also hazard to say that each and every one of us is guilty in our ignorance, in our apathy and in our belief that if it doesn’t effect us, we can’t worry about it. We are so busy being positive that we aren’t noticing what is happening all around us, and that is a good thing, right? We are supposed to stay positive, we are supposed to look for what it is we want rather than that which we do not want, we are supposed to fart rainbows.
When we see something we don’t want, we are supposed to focus on what we do want- this is law of attraction at it’s finest and guess what, it works most of the time. The trick though is that often times I find myself saying I can’t focus on these world events and feel good so I’m just going to ignore them. Esther Hicks calls that a happy face sticker and she reminds us that just because we put a happy face sticker on the gas tank it does not mean we won’t run out of gas. Just because I ignore these events does not mean that they go away. They continue to get bigger, they continue to get scarier and they continue to get more and more surreal and un American like.
So while my happy face sticker is not doing me any good I have to ask myself what will do some good?
Real change will happen when each and every one of us is honest with ourselves first and foremost. Are American lives worth more than lives across the world? What really has value in the world, is it money, weapons of war or food? As we American’s have pursued our own happiness it has been at the expense of the world, are you ready for that knowledge, that truth that sits in the middle of the world like one large pink elephant.
I have to be honest with myself about what I support, and although I say I don’t support war, I still pay my taxes, I still buy from companies that support the war machine, I still shop in stores that support the corporate welfare, I still use gas to drive over 45 miles a day, I still run electricity all day long wether I am home or not, I still take 20 minute showers, I still buy vegetables from big box stores because it’s easier and cheaper than buying local and organic many times. I am just now understanding that buying bottled water is actually a selfish sin not only against humanity but against mother earth in so many ways. I am just now really comprehending that my desire to save money on luxury items spawns an entire industry where slave labor is the commodity of the day, I am just now really getting that by refusing to challenge the status quo, and demanding things remain the same I am killing several children per day with my acquiesce while I get in my car and drive 40 miles down the road when it could easily be done from home. I am slowly understanding that our society is set up in a way that it is unsustainable, and it is probably going to change. It won’t be the first shift in society and if civilization ceases to exist because of some stupid decision some asshole with way too much power made, it won’t be the first time a civilization is remembered within it’s ruins. We do have the power to change things, but not by ignoring them. by facing them head on and making the decision to ask ourselves what is the next step, then taking that step, and supporting others who are taking that step.
Nine eleven has shown me many layers of my own country, from racism to religion. From the drug war to human sex trafficking, from VA atrocities to Private Military elitism and teflon finishes. Nine eleven has exposed our politicians in a way I had not seen them before, over time we see the lies that the war drums drowned out in the moment and no one is accountable. Nine eleven showed me that Americans are so busy chasing our pursuit of pleasure that people of color are being shot in the street or locked up for life for non violent crimes while George Bush - both W and H walk free after the violent murders of thousands of people. Nine eleven showed me 3 Americans brought to Atlanta for rare treatment while almost 3000 africans have died. Nine eleven showed me it’s time to get real,it’s time to take our country back and its time to ask ourselves seriously what we the people of the world want for our future. Most of all Nine eleven taught me that ‘we the people’ has a whole new meaning, we the people of the world, connected and in communication for the first time.
I have met very few actual people I didn’t like, I bet you are the same. Once I get to know people, I usually either like them, or think to each his own. Nine eleven has opened up a phenomena we have not yet witnessed in history. People of the world reaching out to each other. People of the world reaching out without tyrants in the way, without government interference, people connecting in ways that we never knew possible before. When you meet people from all over the world and you see these “world issues”, what we learn is that the american people are some of the most powerful idiots in the world. We have rights no one else has, yet we aren’t good at exercising them. We have a platform most countries do not have, yet we spend our time watching sports and glorifying athletes who beat their girlfriends silly. We have choices about what we support, if we take the time to pay attention.
Nine eleven has taught me to pay attention, not to the terror alert, but to what I am being distracted with and why.
Thirteen years after 9/11 I have a new understanding of America, as does much of the rest of the world, for at least one generation.
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