Today Should Not Be a Day for Politics

It is a day I will never forget, the sound of a low flying plane flying over my apartment, the sound of a bang that I assured myself was just a container being dropped on a loading dock. The hangover. The call to the newsdesk when I walked out onto Seventh Avenue and saw that North Tower was on fire. "Go down there, go Down," the instruction from the assignment editor. The decision not to take the subway but to run, to hear my phone ring and it be my brother, Conor, calling from Ireland, to find out where I was and me trying to joke about yet another reason not to want to fly, and him saying, "lucy, it was not an accident, a second plane has hit the other twin tower," I remember it all as clear as day. The search for a way to make calls when I was there, running along sidestreets and into a bar where everyone was watching it all on CNN while everything was happening right outside. My phone ringing, answering it, and hearing a man's voice, full of tears, crying out the name of the one he loved, telling her how much he loved her, so relieved that she had answered the phone and that she was alive, except that she had not answered the phone, I had... he had come through to the wrong number. And I remember the people jumping and the faces of those around me as we watched them fall.

9/11 changed everything. My friends remember my birthday as the last night of a brighter, easier, happier world. Every year here in New York the families of those who were lost gather down on the site and read the names, write notes, drop beautiful roses in to a small weeping pool. And every year I watch just a little bit and every year I cry. I listen to mothers remember sons, sisters remember brothers, wives remember husbands and small children remember the parents they barely got a chance to know.

Today I know should not be a day for politics but it is hard for me to remember this day without remembering what has come since. The reckless decisions made by an administration bent on a war that never should have been fought. The lives lost there too all as a direct result of those reckless decisions, and not this day, 9/11. The way the world felt about us in the days immediately following this day, (nous sommes tous Americains), and the way they feel about us today.

Today I know should not be a day for politics but it is hard for me to remember this day without remembering what has come since. The abandonment of right, rights, and a regard for human dignity. The embrace of torture, the complete disregard for the Geneva Convention. The unfettered invasion of our privacy.

Today I know should not be a day for politics but it is hard for me not to remember. Homeless Veterans. Dismissed Veterans. Misdiagnosed Veterans. Maltreated Veterans. Forgotten Veterans. Of a war that should never have been fought. Of a war that has no direct correlation to the events of this day. Seven years ago.

Today I know should not be a day for politics. But it is.

Comments

[unitron]

Lucy, is your birth date also September 10th as is mine?

[CarmanK]

Oh, I really disagree. It is necessary for us to remember that 9/11 iwas an attack on our political system, our way of life and our military strength. Those men and women died because they were on American soil and most importantly they remind us that we have a serious obligation to them and their survivors to secure this nation for future generations.
It's time to stop the mourning, remove the shroud of FEAR that has subdued this nation for 7 years and begin to live the life they died for. We have to celebrate our 4th of July, remember our 9/11 like 12/07 and create, innovate and develop.
We have to take our nation back. We to restore our national integrity and world honor. And we have to take the lead in the world on social, economic and military matters. We have to do this because we know that the principles upon which our country though skewered occasionally by "those who would be king" must be protected and can be trusted by our friends and enemies. We lost our way as a nation on 9/11. We have to find our way back, and what better day than to start the journey is 9/11.

[Sara Haile-Mariam - Huffpost Blogger]

Lucy, this is beautiful.

[jmpurser]

9/11/2001 should not have been a day for politics. But we know now that it was too.

[DieHardObamaSupporter]

Beautiful piece. Seven years later this is still a difficult topic for me as I am sure it is for all Americans.

[Speakchic]

Excellent post very touching, moving, and TRUE!

[booksnmore4you]

You're right.

But today the Arizona senator said those on the flight might have saved his own life.

You just KNEW he had to get at least one thing in there about himself.

What about all your colleagues, Senator McCain? Couldn't you have just said that they might have saved *everyone's life who were in Congress?* Isn't that even MORE powerful?

You just KNEW he had to get at least one thing in there about himself.

He promised Obama there'd be nothing political today.

McCain's long lost any integrity.

[Jacukel]

Cheers.

Absolutely beautifully written and poignantly true.

[MikeBoyScout]

Terrorism is a political act. Deplorable, but political.

In a democracy, there is no vacation from responsibility; not if you want to keep the democracy.

Silence is the sound of totalitarian regimes.

Today, remember those we lost by making a Joyful Noise.

Joyful that despite the personal and tragic losses of 9/11/01 and the terrible political set backs that have followed, we still have the opportunity to look forward, participate in a democracy (however flawed), and with these opportunities change the future.

Despite everything, we've survived. And that has been no small feat over the past 7 years.

[ajax2]

Unfortunately GW Bush and Rudy Giuliani have made it a political day from day one. Go to the videos.

[ToonMoene]

This day should live in infamy.

More US citizens have been killed on 20010911 than on 19411207.

It is not that the rest of the world doesn't understand this - it's just that in '41 the US provided a clear lead - something that's missing now.