Posted by
AudiR10TDI on Monday, September 10, 2007 7:38:17 AM
September 10, 2007 -- Today is September 10, the Day Before. Tonight on the way home I will stop and pick up a set bouquet to leave at the American Consulate in the morning as I stop by for the Standing Silence still held there September 11th. I will join a group made up mainly of American Expats, because the Canadians have long ago put the whole September 11 thing out of their minds and are currently busy slobbering on the shoes of Movie Stars strolling the wealthy area called Yorkville. They have no time for remembering, especially for remembering something that happened to the large, successful, well-maintained country to the south of them. In fact, most of my Canadian colleagues have set their WayBack Machines for September 10, and to them it is as if September 11 never happened at all.
I have friends in New York City, Washington DC and the part of Pennsylvania where United 93 went down. I lived near New York City until I went away to college, and we were close enough so if New York got hit by an atom bomb, we would have been obliterated too. Seeing my city under attack is something I will never forget. But I am surrounded by people who think no more about 9/11/01 than they think about the movie Independence Day. (In fact, as my oldest and I left the premiere of Independence Day here in Canada, we were mightily amused by the grumbling of the Canadian audience about the *[Bleep]ing Americans saving the world AGAIN.* Yep, said Zack, that is what we do. Then he asked me a question I have yet to find the answer to. *Why can they not just say thank you?*
Perhaps the answer is that they cannot say thank you because saying thank you would be admitting that (1) something terrible had happened and (2) they could not deal with it and had to call for help. There are people in the world who would prefer to die rather than allow anybody else to save them. And the best way to avoid help is to pretend that the house is not on fire...or, if the neighbours insist on saving you from the flames, accusing them of setting the fire.
Or, you can do what my Canadian colleagues and neighbours do. You can set your wayback machine to the day before the fire and pretend the fire never happenend at all.
There are people in this Country (and sadly, plenty in the USA) who would have responded to the sinking Titanic by pounding down the tilted staircases awash with sea water, banging on doors and screaming *Are you smoking cigarettes/eating trans fats/having gay sex in there?*
These are the people who live their lives as if it is still September 10, 2001.
Finally, in closing, I am reminded of our trip to Road Atlanta for the Petit Le Mans, which began three days after 9/11/01. Canada had done little or nothing to express their condolences or show their solidarity with their neighbours; in fact, people I worked with said that we deserved what had happened to us. The minute we reached the border (and cleared the National Guard at the Ambassador Bridge, which is a whole other experience), the world became one giant American Flag, and the radio stations as we passed through town after town and state after state, played patriotic music. Gas stations were decorated with signs and diners sold t-shirts that said WE WILL NEVER FORGET.
And once again I was reminded of the fact that the world and America are two entirely different places. And right along with Lee Greenwood I sang *God Bless the USA.*
Today is September 10. Tomorrow for some of us will be September 11. But for far too many people who surround me, September 11 will never come.