Have we forgotten Sept. 11?

Today marks the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and the crash of United Flight 93. Last year, during the landmark 10th anniversary, the event was widely covered, and there was talk for days, weeks, about "never forgetting the tragedy of Sept. 11." This year, the observance has been much more muted. Attendance at memorial events is down noticeably from last year, and there is talk that we have begun to forget the painful lessons learned that fateful Tuesday morning. Worse, there is talk that we have begun to forget those who died, and those heroes who fought to save others. So have we REALLY begun to forget 9/11? I don't think so.
   I agree with my friend, Jason Tippitt's theory. He believes that less mention of 9/11 this year isn't a sign of disrespect, but a sign of healing. According to his theory, we haven't forgotten those who died that day. Instead, we have simply begun to move on with our lives, something the heroes of 9/11 would have wanted. To remain in a perpetual state of grief and anger only keeps us stuck in that horrific moment and paralyzes us as a people. This, Tippitt says, would represent the ultimate victory for the hijackers. He's right.
   I don't think anyone who was alive and fully conscious on Sept. 11, 2001, could ever forget where they were or what they were doing when the first plane hit. As for me, I was walking to work after having breakfast with my best friend. Suddenly, I saw a co-worker come tearing around the corner. He told me what had happened, and I hurried on to work in stunned disbelief, arriving just after the second plane had hit. That's all I really remember until that evening. My boss was on vacation for two weeks, having signed up to do a "civilian ride along" with his son, who is in the Navy. Once I got there, I was thrown into a whirlwind of activity that didn't stop until I got home a little over 12 hours later. It was then, when I turned on the TV and started watching coverage, that I fully realized the horror of what had happened that day
   I believe anyone old enough to really remember 9/11 has a story similar to mine. We remember where we were and what we were doing when the attacks happened, just like our parents remember where they were when President Kennedy was assassinated, or where they were during the moon landing. Just like our grandparents remember where they were and what they were doing when World War II finally came to an end. Events like these leave an indelible impression on our national and our individual consciousness. They are not events that are easily, if ever forgotten.
   The question I think we should be asking ourselves today is whether we have forgotten the hard lessons learned as a result of the terrorist attacks. What are those lessons?
   1. We are not immune to terrorism: Growing up, and even into my early adulthood, I shared in the national delusion that America was somehow protected from terrorist attacks. Even in light of the first attempt to bomb the World Trade Center in 1993 and the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, I still thought of terrorism as something that happened in other parts of the world, to other people. "Surely no one would be dumb enough to attack us on our own soil," I thought. "It will never happen here. Not in my lifetime."
   With one, well-coordinated attack on Sept. 11, 2001, that illusion of safety was shattered forever. The truth is, no amount of distance or ocean can protect us from fanatics who are determined to get us. The truth is, it's not a matter of IF we'll be attacked again, but WHEN.
   2. We are not as beloved in the world as we like to think we are, and our actions have consequences: America's hubris is perhaps its greatest weakness. As Americans, we are raised to believe that we live in the greatest country in the world. We like to cast ourselves as the "white knight" on  the world stage, always riding to the rescue of some poor, downtrodden nation. We like to think that we will be greeted as heroes wherever we go, that we are universally beloved. Unfortunately, that's not even close to true. The truth is, our unabashed, unrelenting support of Israel has made us plenty of enemies in the Middle East. There, we're derided as "The Great Satan." And not every country we try to help is appreciative of that aid. Some look at it as interference. Some just want to be left alone to handle their own affairs.
 For our own safety, we need to learn that our foreign policy doesn't take place in a vacuum. Our actions will generate consequences. We need to learn that although it is OK to offer our help to another country, not everyone wants it. If that's the case, we should bow out quietly. We should, in short, learn to show other countries the very same respect that we demand.
   3. The "War on Terror" is an endless war that can never be won: Remember in the days following 9/11, when President George W. Bush spoke glowingly about waging "war on terror," and about making the world safe for democracy? It's a beautiful dream, but it's a goal that can never, ever be reached. That's because what Bush was talking about wasn't waging war against a country -- say Afghanistan or Iraq. This isn't a matter of flexing our military muscle and beating another country into submission. What Bush proposed was a war against a PHILOSOPHY, terrorism. He talked about defeating terrorism and making the world safe for freedom. Again, beautiful dream, but impossible to achieve.
 The reality is, no matter how many men we send to fight, no matter how much money we spend, we have no hope of winning against such a vague and shadowy enemy. We could kill terrorist leaders every day for the next 100 years, and there will always be someone waiting in the wings to replace them. We can torture suspected terrorists as much as we want for information, and all we'll accomplish is to create the next generation of terrorists who are willing to die to hurt us.
   Terrorism has been used  as a political tool since long before the United States was even though of, and it will continue to be around long after we're gone. If we are to have any hope of changing this, we need to look at ourselves first. We need to realize that we are at least partly responsible for the hatred other nations feel toward us. Our actions DO have consequences, and failure to change our thinking and our actions will only guarantee that we keep getting the same results.
 If we want to defeat terrorism, we need to start showing other countries the same respect we demand. We need to realize that the American style of democracy is unique to us. It can't be duplicated anywhere else with any success, so we should stop trying to force it on others. Not every democracy in the world is going to look like ours. Some countries are going to choose leaders we don't like, and who don't like us. Some countries are going to choose alternate forms of government we don't like (i.e., socialism).
   If we truly believe in freedom for the world, doesn't that mean people should be free to choose their own form of government and their own leaders, even if we don't like them? Doesn't it mean they should be free to worship as they choose, even if we don't agree with their chosen religion? Doesn't it mean that they are due our respect?
   The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, were a national tragedy, no doubt. And it is right that we should pause each year to remember both the heroes and the victims of that day. But if we end our reflection just remembering the tragedy, it's victims and heroes; if we fail to remember the lessons their sacrifices should have taught us, then they will have died in vain.