Let?s forget 9/11. I was reading an opinion piece and this was the author?s main point. He was tired of all this rehashing, of the images, of the tragedy. At first, I sympathized with him. We do seem to be pretty dramatic a year later.

However, he?s wrong. It is important to look at this again. It?s part of healing it, and understanding it. Perhaps the photo shows of the carnage rendered are a bit morbid and disturbing, but allowing a public discussion about the whole thing is not.

My professor of my night class reminded me that in one battle of the Civil War, at Gettysburg, 8,000 young men were killed. This is during the 1860?s, when there was a tenth of the population now. He was adamant in recalling that each and every one of those 8,000 boys had a worried mother.

Death does not change. Its finality moves us like nothing else. As living beings we are unconsciously devoting most of our lives to remaining alive, putting countless hours into sustaining ourselves. That is why war is such an amazing phenomenon, for we reverse our survival natures and change into self-sacrificing heroes who cannot see the enemy as human.

When we remember September 11th, the death of those 3,500 spills upon us the same. Pain has been doled out, and now we are left to deal with it. This loss of life was so incredible in it?s execution, that it was hard to believe it, delaying the healing process for a long time.

Perhaps even harder for the average citizen, is the slow and steady realization that we have been collectively avoiding for a long time. You know, that avoidance that makes us say, “Oh, I don?t know, I don?t pay attention to those types of things.” Well, it?s come home folks. We have acted like a teenager in the big world, and this was the car wreck that killed our best friend.

It is appropriate to mourn on 9/11. We should mourn the loss of relatives and citizens, but we must also mourn the loss of our naivete. We all wish that we could go back and to before it happened, because the truth is starting to become very apparent. The United States is a youthful nation, and at some point, we must learn how to play in the sandbox. We have been hogging the toys for a long time.

This was an incredibly symbolic act, for our twin towers of consumerism and internationalism have turned to dust. If we look in our current crisis, the two major events causing concern are the fact that nearly every big corporation is under scrutiny from the SEC for illegal practices, and that there is bipartisan questioning of a military action in Iraq. Basically, the United States is shaking. It?s no wonder we all feel a little funny, for we are questioning almost everything about our lives right now. It?s not business as usual, and I for one, feel ill at ease.

I feel that looking back a year later, we are more prepared to take a stand on issues, to examine our policies. I hear more people talking about Bush?s plan to attack Iraq, and more are questioning it. This I applaud. This is a expression of healing, for if we are now asking the hard questions, that means we got the lesson. We cannot simply barge ahead and take over the world; we?ve got to take responsibility for our actions within it.

I?ve heard more people on campus be aware of cultural issues. In my classes, I hear people asking about the cultural patterns that are different than their own. Instead of brashly characterizing them as wrong, there is a dawning of awareness. This awareness is what is going to save us. It is that slow change in individual?s behavior that will keep horror form happening again.