Around the time of the first anniversary of 9/11, a young Saudi friend said to me, “Why don’t you Americans let the scars of 9/11 heal? The wounds of that day hurt all of us, Saudis and Americans alike. But you seem to be throwing salt on a healing wound when you commemorate these anniversaries. Can’t you either leave it alone or take a stand that promotes peace and not further pain?”
Google “9/11” on current news and you will find almost 80,000 references. And almost all of these references refer to the pain and agony of this horrific event. Yes, we as Americans will always remember this event, but we need to think not only of the pain and agony but, more importantly, we need to focus on the positive steps that we can take to heal the wounds.
Some time ago, I wrote an article about 9/11 for this newspaper. In the article, I quoted David Potorti, who had organized families who had lost loved ones in the 9/11 disaster. David had lost an older brother who worked on the 96th floor of the World Trade Center on that fateful day. Unlike other bereaved 9/11 families who took other routes, David was part of a group that focused on peace and peace issues as a healing mechanism.
When I spoke with David at that time, he explained that he and his group would like to reach out to the families of victims of similar disasters. He asked, for example, if there was some way that he could reach out to Saudi families and other families who had lost loved ones in terrorist incidents in Saudi Arabia starting in May 2003. He felt that there was much to share with those families.
David is now part of an organization called September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. In the week leading up to Sept. 11, 2006, they have convened a meeting of more than 30 extraordinary individuals from around the world who are devoted to cooperation, healing and reconciliation. Each of these men and women has been personally affected by violence yet has rejected the idea of retaliating with further violence. Instead, they have successfully built bridges between groups previously in conflict, and have formed organizations to promote justice, reconciliation and genuine peace.
Some have survived bombings and suffered physical loss. Some have lost family members, and others have lost extended families. Some have witnessed the terrors of war. Others have explored forgiveness and reconciliation as part of their healing process. They are meeting to establish an international network, and to bring our messages to the American public.
Contrast the activities of the Peaceful Tomorrows group with the overwhelming emphasis on reopening the sore and revengeful actions within the media and with most American politicians during this election period.
I opened my local newspaper today and it was filled with 9/11 stories. There were stories about events commemorating the tragedy of 9/11, TV shows that were to be shown which would present again the horror of that day and speeches that were being given pledging a continuing revengeful response five years later.
I was particularly taken by an article which was headlined, “Youngsters Getting History Lessons in 9/11”. The article pointed out that many of the children’s history books were revised right after 9/11 to reflect that calamity. The kids, as early as fourth grade, now have topics such as “terrorism” in their history books. Fifth graders look at “tension among individual belief systems”, according to their local social studies coordinator. Many of the stories focus on reporters on the scene when the Twin Towers were hit and the subsequent response and US invasion of Afghanistan. The children are definitely being taught to remember the worst.
Peaceful Tomorrows is bringing together families who have suffered some great adversities -not only families who lost loved ones due to terrorist attacks in the United States, Spain and England, but also families of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings and other similar tragedies. They are coming together to share stories and activities of how these lethal incidents have caused them to find positive energies within themselves and use these positive energies for a more peaceful world.
It would be wonderful if our local schools could focus on organizations like Peaceful Tomorrows and their activities rather than on terrorism and tension among individual belief systems. I would love to be able to tell my young Saudi friend who asked me why we want to reopen the sore of 9/11 every year, that the sore is healing and the scar is almost gone. America needs to remember that we can and have recovered from deep wounds in the past and we must and will do it again.
