September 11th, 2001

September 11th

I had to do quick maths and then recheck it again. It did happen 21 years ago, and I cannot believe that it was so long ago. It seems still fresh in my memory and feels no more than 10 or something years ago. The events of September 11th are a symbolic start to the XXI century, with foresight of time passing. And it seems that those events are already mostly forgotten and fading from common consciousness — even in the United States — which is endemic to our times.

Forgetting is such a common occurrence in our times. I checked some of the websites of New York news media and there is nary a mention of this anniversary. And I understand that things change and there are new more important topics — global economic crisis, raging inflation, worries about energy sources for the upcoming winter, the war in Ukraine, tensions in East Asia, even the passing of a woman called “the Queen”. All that is important for now, and on many levels rightly so. But as someone had said — “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. And ain't that the truth.

There are still so many questions surrounding the events of that sunny and warm September day. And it seems like no one even asks them anymore. And I don’t mean the conspiracy theories about jet fuel and melting steel beams. Other very important questions — about what the intelligence community knew beforehand, about the actual scope of involvement of governmental agencies from Saudi Arabia, about how easy it was to establish unprecedented rules for invasion of privacy of regular citizens, about how come a terrorist attack planned by al-Qaida in Afghanistan led to a war in Iraq.

Remembering and questioning the memories is very important to me. Mostly because I realize now how many memories of events I experienced I lost or maybe even not retained in the first place. Just remembering the bits and pieces that are still in my head, and those memories that appear out of nothing once in a while is not enough. I spend time analyzing those things I remember, and many times I found them to be false and misleading. Our minds can play tricks on us, but in the matter of events seen and experienced by a multitude, a consensus is easily found. But only if we still remember it.