9/11 alone did not change me, but the subsequent decade has. I've become disillusioned with the government, disappointed in choices made that led us into two wars which turned into a nation-building quagmire, and concerned that the economic security this country enjoyed most of my life may not be there for my children, in large part because of those government choices.
But on 9/11, we wept as a nation, united as a people who grieved together... as one. I miss that national unity, and wish it didn't take tragedy to make us realize that we are all Americans, who love our country and bleed for its losses.
Well said.
I was working that day. That day and many days afterward I found it difficult not to get tearful when my patients did over 9-11. As an objective clinician we are not supposed to become part of the patient's drama. I thought for a while and realized this was not JUST their issue, it was also mine.
I am amazed that there continues to be so much racial bickering on forums like this one. It doesn't always seem to be people of color who have the problem, but others who need someone to look down upon. And of course the Sharptons and Jackons will never cease. Still, I recall that day one of my African American patients sitting in my office and saying, 'we've been so busy fighting amongst ourselves we didn't know who the
REAL enemy was.'
Now, ten years later, it seems as if, once again, we have forgotten who the REAL enemy is. Somehow, we have extrapolated that the real enemy is us - our elderly and our infants.
What the **** happened?