Monday, September 11, 2006

What happened to our world?

I was in Florence, Italy on 9.11.02. It was one year after the terrorist attacks on on NY, Pennsylvania and the Pentagon. People cared about Americans back then; they stopped us to make sure we were okay. They wanted to share where they were when they heard the news one year before. Our world was still united.

The poster shown below was handed out to all the vendors at the market in Florence. They asked the vendors to display the poster as a sign of unity with the US. The poster says " Florence does not forget". They didn't forget then and the world was united, but what happened?

After this country was attacked, there were memorial services in France, Malaysia and other places. Universal condolences were offered at embassies. People lit candles and presented flowers at vigils worldwide. The Pope and the Dalai Lama lead prayers. It wasn't just an attack on America & Americans, the citizens of the world suffered, too; they shared out pain.
It has been 5 years since that terrible day. Our world is no longer united, neither is our country. Our president has squandered the unity that was shown to us from across the world. Our president did not want collaboration, he wanted to fight his Global War on Terrorism alone, although those countries of the Coalition of the Willing, went along until it became too politically uncomfortable for their participation and thus we have the Coalition of the Wilting. Iraq is going badly. The Taliban has shown a resurgence in Iraq.
What happened to our country? What happened to our world?

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