At each of the past anniversaries of the September 11 attacks, we’ve been incessantly told “never forget” on our social media. Every year, I ask myself, “How could I forget?” And now, almost every time I see one of those social media posts, I wonder why the person feels it necessary to remind us not to forget. To myself, I ask, “What kind of virtue are they wanting to signal?”
I hope they are calling us all to remember the heroism of those first responders. I hope they’re calling us to sit in the kind of legitimate sorrow that can guide us to a better world. I’d say many of my friends are doing just that from softened, lamenting hearts. Based on the context of others’ posts and their other content throughout the year, though, I think many of our fellow Americans are reminding us to trust our xenophobia and hate Muslims, to never feel safe and make our decisions based on fear. People who support missionaries are saying phrases like “America first.”
I could judge them, but I used to be in that head space. Back then, I smiled when our troops painted religious remarks on the bombs they later dropped on places I’ve never been. I loved Toby Keith’s jingoist music video promising “to put a boot up your ass. It’s the American way.” One of my favorite memories from the aftermath was President George W. Bush grabbing a megaphone and answering, “I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you! And the people – and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.” Those who heard him in person cheered and chanted “USA! USA!” I would’ve fist-pumped along them.
A deserved American pride
I’m still proud of my country. I still hate that thousands of innocent and heroic people died that day. I’m still amazed at the incredible character and sacrifice of those who ran toward danger rather than away—both at the sites of the attacks and later on foreign soil. I still understand why our elected officials made the decisions they did after the coordinated foreign attacks. But I don’t want to remember the same things my Facebook connections do about September 11. Even more, I wish the world had heard something very different from America than they have over the past 19 years.
A deserved American reputation
I wish we were known less for the bombs we dropped and more for organizations like Preemptive Love, who deliver urgent aid via armored vehicles before the gunfire stops, before the UN shows up.
I wish we were known less for our ignorance of other cultures and more for outfits like Love Does, who starts schools for girls in misogynist countries and conflict zones.
I wish we were known less for our world-class porn and more for our fight against trafficking through NGOs like International Justice Mission, A21, and others.
I wish Silicon Valley leveraged its algorithms to fight child porn, that they tracked pedophiles as well as they track our online search and shopping habits.
I wish our military’s reputation was that it leveraged its brute force to help in natural disasters, deliver supplies to those behind enemy lines, and protected the oppressed. They do all of that, but it’s not their brand image.
I wish people in communist and monarchal nations knew us not for our demagogues or populists but for a truly representative government that reflects the best interest of its citizens instead of its donors.
I wish we were known as a Christian nation—that our pastors were more interested in ministry than in power, that our pontificators weren’t so often found to be molesters, deviants, and grifters. I wish more of our missionaries were known for representing the heart of the Gospel instead of the supremacy of a theology influenced by the American Dream®.
I wish the American church was known for its uncanny rate of adoptions and foster care rather than its unsavory political marriages for the sake of Supreme Court appointments. I wish Jesus wasn’t blasphemed as an elephant or a donkey.
I wish the rest of the world saw our culture as one that cared for our elderly and immunocompromised, that we didn’t discount their deaths as expendable statistics to get our economy back on track.
I wish the rest of the world never saw our police officers shooting unarmed black men in the back, kneeling on their necks, and hunting them in off-duty packs in Georgia. I wish they saw our courageous law enforcement officers condemn their racist brothers in blue. I wish they saw uniformed responders charged with crimes as quickly and thoroughly as those they beat and tackle, tase and tear gas.
I wish we weren’t known for radicalized news. I wish we didn’t lead Western Culture in the number of people who believe in a flat earth. I wish our country was the one in all of the Facebook videos with creative methods & technology for conserving our natural resources.
I wish the Land of the Free wasn’t known for mass incarceration, opioid addiction, and murderous gangs. I long for the Home of the Brave to be known by people of all colors, religions, and nations as a leader in difficult peace, appropriate mercy, and generous grace.
A hope for American influence
I wish what the world heard after September 11, 2001, was that our fifty states, our territories, and our bases around the world were filled with justice tempered by nuance, strength reigned by humility, ability intertwined with generosity. I wish we leveraged our capitalism and innovation even more than we do for exciting new ways to meet the needs of the hurting and the disenfranchised.
I wish when people scold us with “never forget,” they meant, “Remember when we woke up? Remember when we saw the error of our ways and did something about it? Remember when we noticed our entropy and changed our trajectory?” Until we do something positive with our memories of 9/11, I’m not sure it’s healthy for any of us to marinate in our remembering.
So what should we do after we “Never Forget”?
Start a new tradition 9/11 today. Write a thank you card to a first responder, a teacher, or an emergency room professional. Send a letter of encouragement to a soldier, an inmate, or someone in a nursing home. Bake a plate of cookies for a neighbor who has a different sign in their yard than you do. Create a social media post about something you’ve learned, somewhere you’ve grown, someone you’ve met, or something for which you’re grateful. Read a book written by an author with a different gender, skin color, or nationality than you. Do a prayer walk in the part of town where you wouldn’t buy a house.
Let’s live today and the next 364 days the way the victims would live a second life, if given that chance. Then maybe next year on this date, we’ll be able to say “I will never forget” with smiles on our faces, good memories in our hearts, and a new, shared hope for the future.
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Stock photo purchased from iStockPhoto.com
