9/12 - The day after yesterday...

"I remember 9/11. I will never forget. I also remember 9/12. Of that date, I am trying not to forget. But it gets harder every year. And the fraying of our national fabric is causing my memory to blur."

Many years ago, Glenn Beck started something called the 9/12 Project. It was shortly after the 9/11 terror attack. Why 9/12 instead of 9/11? He wanted to celebrate our country coming together. Coming together like it had not done for years. Maybe not since the Gulf War victory. 

After the very contentious 2000 presidential election, the country was on its way to becoming fractured. Remember? Bush was "selected", not "elected"?. It was a rough time. Then 9/11 happened, shortly after Bush became President. The bad guys might have thought we were ripe for the kill shot. They were wrong. 

I was working for Big Blue at the time. One of my clients was American Express. Usually, I would spend three days out of five at the account. When the terror attack happened, we were told to shelter in place in our home offices. Once we were given the green light to return to our accounts, one of the managers for American Express thought it would be a good idea for all vets to put pictures of themselves, in uniform, on the outside of their cubicals. And we did. There were dozens of cubicals, adorned with pictures of vets. Others had flags on their cubicals. Some had pictures of the planes hitting the towers. But most importantly, we were ALL united. Providers and clients alike, we were all united. 

What happened to the spirit of 9/12? How could it have vanished so quickly? All of a sudden, many started thinking about the stolen election of 2000 again, instead of how to bring Al Qaeda to justice. The fracturing of our national fabric, which started in 2000, started to reappear. Not only reappear, but it started to get much worse. The "we" on 9/12, became "us" and "them". 

One of our enemies is rumored to have said that "American's have short memories, and an even shorter attention span". We are already on to the next news cycle. The feeling of solidarity and unity we had on 9/12? Ya, ya, ya. That was so very yesterday. That is the impression some get of us. We have moved on. Now we are focused on climate change being the bad guy instead of the Taliban. And the illusive white supremists? We have been told by our accidental POTUS, that white supremists are the real terrorist today. You know, those old white guys who voted for Trump. The ones who caused January 6th - which for some on the left, is worse than 9/11.

I remember 9/11. I will never forget. I also remember 9/12. Of that date, I am trying not to forget. But it gets harder every year. And the fraying of our national fabric is causing my memory to blur. That being said, what is my my biggest fear? United we stand, divided we fall, might become reality. We won't need another terror attack to destroy us. We can do that, all by ourselves.