Silence

[absolutleybill]

I realize that today, in our nation, people feel called to a moment of silence. I respect duly this movement towards remembrance, but nearly 6 years later, I have to call into question whether silence has served us, the survivors and inheritors of a wounded country, or them, the victims and human sacrifices of a war we did not ask for

Comments

[robynjade13]

Please take the time, if you have not already, to not only ask why, but to demand an answer.

what do you think the silence is for? it's to get those thoughts together, to concentrate on what should have been-- to separate the many different feelings. mourning for the dead in the attacks, mourning for the soldiers dead in iraq, personal loss of feelings of safety, betrayal of the trust we put in our leaders, the sheer magnitude of evil possible in the world, and the quickly-forgotten goodwill shared between americans and offered by other countries. there's a lot there, and some of it does require action (trust in leaders, lost goodwill) but some of it requires personal contemplation (feelings of insecurity, questions of evil in the world, mourning for the dead.) wound-healing comes in many forms, from personal to national.

at least that's what i do with the silence.

[absolutleybill]

I'm not trying to begrudge you of that.

But we've had 6 years of that silence, 6 years to collect and to mourn and to ready, and still nothing has changed, nothing has been done. A moment of silence would be fine if it were not as every other moment sounds to me.

The dead demand more than our silence, Robin. If we take that silence as a moment of preparation, then so be it, but so far our silence has not ended, and we, as a nation, have not acted on it.

[robynjade13]

i think what i'm trying to say is that the dead DO deserve more than our silence... but too often we get caught up in the action and forget the dead-- that goes for both pro and anti war factions, in my experience. i think of days like this as an anchor to remember why fighting is necessary. which i suppose can be superfluous for people like you who are plenty self-aware to keep that in mind. the other 90% of the country needs to sit and think for a minute.

LONELY FEDORA LIVES

[robynjade13]

See.. And I'd think a day in which desperate people kill thousands of innocents would be a reminder for why sometimes fighting is not only not necessary, but the wrong thing to do. The first link I posted below is the best example of that. Unity.

[spatulagirl]

Rick, this was beautiful and poetic and very, very strong.

LONELY FEDORA LIVES

[anonymous]

first:
http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/archives/2006/09/090706.html

and then:
http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/archives/2006/09/091106.html