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Fill the Hole
Sadly, an ill-spoken remark suggested the title for this piece...for over the past five years I have seen, rather than the better angels of our nature, the worst. Unity so quickly gave way to self and faction, and debate to denigration. These days it seems one cannot enter a discussion about how to handle the complex realities of this world's tragic situation without a breakdown into petty squabbling and childish, capricious conduct. I see it from all sides and I see it further every possible divide: Democrat versus Republican, American versus European, and Christan versus Muslim, all without regard for civility towards and understanding of the individual.
The sad truth is that there is still a hole in the ground, a void left in our world that we know not yet how to fill. Just as the physical memorial to the dead and injured remains to be finalized, so too does the memorial we will leave to them by our spirits. This is not just an American issue to decide, though the epicenter--including Ground Zero--is here. This is something we must all decide together. I ask now, each of you individually: with what will you fill the hole?
Will you choose to fill the hole with an anger that seethes so viciously that anything it touches with which it disagrees is irreparably scorched? Will you fill it with disrespect, disdain, and blame? Will you allow allies to push each other apart, and friends to hold each other in contempt? Will you choose words of cruelty and spite instead of words of logic and respect? This is what happens every time people choose to treat as less those with whom they disagree. "The American must be blind, the European cowardly, the Democrat conniving and the Republican a wild menace." Each of these fills the hole with further grief.
Will you choose to deny even the very facts of how so many innocents died? A dangerous little cousin of Holocaust denial is setting in among some--and just as in those who deny the horrors of those days, such caustic "theories" are symptoms of a hatred that will stop at nothing to achieve its destructive aims, whether they be against the body or the spirit.
Or will you choose instead to remember the acts of kindness and empathy that reigned in the first weeks after the tragedy five years ago? Will you put aside your fear and hatred in favor of respect, and your words of contempt for those of reconciliation even if not of views then of hearts? Will you speak in terms of cool logic, which builds mutual understanding in companionship with its sister, respectful and considerate listening, even when you find yourself in disagreement? Will you seek to learn instead of to defend your mental territory at all costs? I invite everyone, of all origins and all beliefs, to consider these points carefully and take them to heart, for failure of our society to live in a way that honors the deeds of heroes is not just "their" responsibility to bear, whoever "they" may be for you.
What will be your tribute to those lost and otherwise harmed by the terrorist acts of September 11th, 2001? Will it be love and respect that honors the greatest, or disdain of thought, word, and deed?
With what will you fill the hole?
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