Taking stock - four years later

Informed Comment's Juan Cole says it so much better than I could. In the link of this post's title above, Professor Cole provides a very thoughtful summary of our nation's progress since 9/11/01. It is right on.


Today my writing is about that same question from my personal perspective. I struggle with a lingering sense of disbelief that certain governmental intervention has been so tardy along the Gulf Coast. I feel "death all around me," as the mayor of New Orleans put it a few days ago.
Conversely it is amazing and heartening to see the "get there, roll up your sleeves, hold out your hand and help" post-hurricane behavior of so many thousands of our people in the non-governmental sector. I have been struck by how many first responders, both governmental and volunteer, have been so magnificently engaged as rescuers and helpers.
The parallels between 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina are obvious. We all talk about them. What has changed is also obvious. It is now readily apparent that when Two Big Bad Things happened, our current administration has not foreseen them, planned for them, nor responded with any logic. It makes me crazy.
When I am not feeling crazy, I generalize the aftermath of two big bad things into "when another big bad thing happens, I will not be safe."
But we not powerless. There have been countless instances of going around the barriers of official ineptitude, some successful, some not. Where would we be without whistle blowers, public servants willing to resign in protest, courageous people in mass media, anonymous citizens in trucks setting out (on and off the road) to just get it done?
The weapons of empowerment are truth, self-sacrifice, courage, tirelessness, passion, and the wisdom to know when and how to break rules. Broken rules include keeping silent, following regulations, blind loyalty to the organization, letting fear paralyze action, look out for Number One, the authorities know best, it has always been this way, etc., etc.
Using my existential perspective, taking stock leads me to a few conclusions. The life of every human being matters . . . very much. The nihilism of terrorist thinking must be confronted in more powerful and enlightened ways. All of us faces inevitable mortality; that does not have to lead to helplessness and hopelessness. We all fight despair coming from these two tragedies and all the ensuing human implications.
The attacks of 9/11 and of the destruction from Hurricane Katrina have not left us reeling. Each of us, who acts in some way that matters, has had to find some kind of profound in the suffering caused by those Two Big Bad Things. Through community we are beginning to move out and away from this long political nightmare. Perhaps we unconsciously remember President Clinton's themes of Community and Responsibility, included in this DailyKos post about core values.
My next blog might be on voting rights, who knows.