Howl

Tomorrow is another anniversary of the World Trade Center/Pentagon attacks, and I’m sure you’ve heard people asking if we as a country have forgotten and seen people putting out flags and all that. Maybe you’re even going to some sort of memorial service tomorrow. I’m not writing to discredit those things. I’m not writing to talk deeply about whether this war we’re in has anything to do with September 11th (it doesn’t) or whether or not this war is justified (it’s not) or whether or not false patriotism has been used as a marketing tool in a sickening amount since the tragedy six years ago (it has).

What I want to say is this: tomorrow should be about love. Remember what happened, sure, but spend tomorrow focused on love. Love for the soldiers overseas now, love for those Middle Easterners around us, love for our fellow man no matter his creed or color, love for who we are told are our enemies, even love for a guy who released a videotape a couple days ago and who we’re never going to catch because we decided instead to use the September 11th attacks as an excuse for taking out someone we didn’t like.

Do not spend tomorrow hating anyone. Do not spend tomorrow in a violence-induced haze of pleasure. We have become the modern-day gladiatorial crowd on an international scale, and that is a very bad thing. Spend tomorrow focusing on love, and how we can prevent things like September 11th from happening again.

I’ll give you a hint how: it’s not by fighting people.