14 years after 9/11: Somehow, we must must forward together
Published September 11, 2015
Editorial by Winston-Salem Journal, September 11, 2015.
Martin Niemцller, the German Lutheran, hit a universal note when he spoke about the Nazis and the disastrous folly of not standing against all oppression. If you don’t, to paraphrase his classic words, there will be no one left to speak for you.
This anniversary of the attacks on our homeland of Sept. 11, 2001 might serve as a special reminder of that warning issued right after World War II. The 2001 attacks introduced Americans to the terrorism many have long known, a terrible entry to the world, 21st century style.
And still we stand for the weak.
We the people would do well to remind our president and the many candidates for that office that, while we often disagree on strategy, we do agree on the basic principle of standing up for the oppressed on our shores and those across the seas.
In the years after World War II, as our country established itself as the No. 1 superpower in the world, we have strived, not always well, to strike the delicate and dangerous balance between promoting democracy and nation building. And through our armed forces and presidents and former presidents, we have repeatedly delivered humanitarian aid worldwide to countries hurting from problems ranging from disease to war to natural disaster, to countries with which we agree and those we don’t.
Given those efforts, the attacks on our homeland of Sept. 11 were particularly jarring. Until then, many Americans had no idea of the intensity of the hatred extremists feel for us.
We buried and mourned our dead, and, as is our custom, stood back up strong. The blood that flowed was red, white and blue. We were metaphorically baptized in that blood, reborn in American unity of spirit. We were proud and steadfast for a while.
Then it all fell away. The usual disagreements from Washington to Raleigh to Winston resurfaced. The Iraq war was a disaster.
Today, our international front — struggling with the Iran deal, the Syrian crisis and the rise of ISIS — is as uneasy and uncertain as our domestic one.
Across our land, we have law-enforcement officers being ambushed and officers involved in questionable deaths of blacks. We’re divided by issues of race and politics.
But we contend that, while imperfect, our country is still the greatest on earth.
On this day, the 14th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on America, maybe we’d do well to remember that. And to recognize that the struggle of standing up for the oppressed is just as hard, but crucial, as agreeing on ways to do that. At our best, we unite against the worst. We should recognize that if we don’t succeed at doing that, the next knock on the door could be for us.
