11 September 2010
 
On This Day

On Sept. 11, 2001, suicide hijackers crashed two airliners into the World Trade Center in New York, causing the 110-story twin towers to collapse. Another hijacked airliner hit the Pentagon and a fourth crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.
-       NY Times on-line footer, today.

(Resting place of CDR Dan Shanower, USN, Arlington, 2010. Photo Socotra)

Thinking back, 1968 might stand as the worst year in our collective life as Americans. At least in my time on the planet. There was something going on that we still do not understand back-stage in the nation’s life. The famous malaise that strung out in the shadow of that year went on through the Oil Shock and prompted the last period we knew the country was going to hell in a hand-basket.

Of course, I had a great time personally in that time of transition, and most of my friends did, too, except the ones who had to go fight. There was a wild new freedom in the air, and it took a while for the business of life to grind down and dull our natural native optimism.
 
We had a pretty good run after that, though we allowed some really bad stuff to go on, and forgot how to balance our check-book and began to think that finance and the service sector of the economy were as good as making high quality things right here that give people jobs.
 
I have to say that this anniversary of the murders of my friends here in town, and of my fellow citizens in New York and those brave passengers in Pennsylvania marks about the worst year I have had, personally, though the sad fruits of last winter make a close second. Too many too close took their leave of this world, and reminded me poignantly of the fragility of our webs of relationships.
 
Amid all that, we continue to shred ourselves. The policies of the current Administration are based on bankrupt notions of socialism-lite. The policies of the likely new Congress that will come in response are unknown, since they are a Nixonian Secret Plan, and by all accounts will only make things worse.
 
We are at war with something we don’t understand, and cannot articulate beyond the sound bites of cretins like bin Laden and Preacher Jones.
 
There must be a way to articulate it, this struggle across the centuries between a virulent strain of Revealed Truth and cool cerebral secularism, bleached and weakened by awful conflicts that killed tens of millions and brought global empires to their end.
 
So, oddly, why do I feel buoyant and filled with hope on this day, this anniversary of such profound sadness?
 
I don’t know. I am going to stop and get the usual flowers and make the trip to Arlington, as I do on the special days in the year. There is peace there, and an eternal resolve that marks our strength. I take succor from those who lie there, as I always do.
 
There is power there, a great reservoir of it that will remain to fill our hearts until the gentle green hills and the uniform and dignified white stones wash down to the great brown river and fill the Chesapeake.
 
Copyright 2010 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com
Subscribe to the RSS feed!