22 Years in the New America

22 years of mourning what was lost.

I’ll never forget how I heard about the Twin Towers. I was a freshman in college, and was getting ready for my classes. I had the CBS morning show on when they started talking about a small plane, like a Cessna hitting…

…you know, what? No one cares. It’s been 22 years. Maybe someone will be interested in that story if I live long enough, but for now the attack itself is a distant memory. What isn’t distant is the new country we suddenly found ourselves in. Uglier, meaner, paranoid.

Not at first. At first we had never felt more united. We all cheered W. throwing that ball. We were frightened but we had confidence in America.

And then, slowly, it all went to hell. But there were early signs. The one I most distinctly remember is the name of this new country: The Homeland.

I had never once heard the good ol’ US of A referred to as The Homeland, but suddenly that’s what we were expected to call it. We must secure The Homeland. We must defend The Homeland. The Homeland suddenly had its own department. They even made a show about it.

The Homeland isn’t based in any sort of constitutional law or will of the people. Rather, The Homeland is an entity founded on paranoia, power, and safetyism above all else.

It listens to your phone calls. It reads your emails. It needs to know everything about you.

Above all, The Homeland cares about you. The Homeland wants to make sure you make the right decisions. The Homeland wants to remind you that your neighbor is your enemy. In fact, there are enemies and terrorists around every corner. Everyone is suspect: your friends, your family, your neighbors. If you see something, say something.

The Homeland must do everything possible to ensure its safety — which is by extension your safety. If The Homeland is safe, you’re safe. And if The Homeland is threatened, you’re threatened.

But fear not, The Homeland will do everything to keep it—you—safe, whether it’s torturing prisoners, killing unarmed civilians, bending the public narrative, invading foreign countries, provoking wars, or just outright lying.

9/11 will always be a day of mourning for America. Not only for those who lost their lives on that day and the wars that came later, but for the country we lost. The ones my children will never know existed.

Photo by Ravi Patel on Unsplash