As my observance of the 9/11 anniversary, I'm blogging on related topics over at http://FORpeace.net for the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Here's my first entry of the day.
Today is the sixth anniversary of 9/11 and there are so many things I want to say. I'll start with a shout out to September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. This is a group that responded to tragedy with compassion instead of vengeance. Here is an excerpt of their statement on this anniversary:
We have witnessed the use of 9/11 to justify the slaughter of tens of thousands of people in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thousands of our own soldiers have been killed. Two million refugees in Syria and Jordan languish in poverty and desperation. And we have witnessed as well the suppression of our constitutional rights at home. We have been unable to stop any of it.
The sights and sounds of Vietnam were ignored by those in power when they ordered the invasion of Iraq and the torture of prisoners. So they have repeated that nightmare scenario and the world watches in horror. What will it take to stop it? For if our leaders did not know before what horrific slaughter would ensue, they surely must know now.
And so we come to the sixth anniversary of the attacks of September 11th. There has been too little introspection concerning those attacks, no accountability from our government, and reports more secretive than revealing about what happened in the immediate aftermath of those attacks. Six years later, we have more questions than answers, more dead to mourn, and a thing with feathers still perches in our souls, yearning for peaceful tomorrows.
- peacefultomorrows.org
This group has done great work, especially in reminding the media that non-violent responses are valid and embraced by many who directly suffered losses on September 11th. One of their members has established a Peace and Justice Center on Better World Island in Second Life. You can visit them there to see first-hand accounts from Iraqis living under occupation and better understand the consequences of war. If you're not in Second Life yet, you can watch this short video about their work by my friend Josh Levy.