A Day Not Unlike Any Other
September 11th 2001 opened to a bright, crisp, blue sky. Five years later, September 11th 2006 opened the same way. For those of us who were up early enough to see the 8:00 radiance of the sun on both days might notice just how shockingly similar they were, the only difference might have been that in 2001 it was just a little nicer, a smidge fewer clouds and slightly warmer air. Some of us might not remember this, but having been away from the city on September 11th for the past 4 years my first one back reminded me just how that day had started five years ago.
Today I did three things. I went to a Bris, I went to a funeral and I went to Ground Zero. For those who don't know, a Bris is a Jewish celebration of a male's induction into Judaic tradition with his circumcision. However you feel personally about circumcision, understand that it is a happy event which welcomes a new life into the family. It was the first time I saw my newest second newphew.
After the Bris I went to funeral. A great and honored man in the NY Jewish community had passed. You might imagine just how great he was that he was so close to my family of atheist Chinese Jews. Burnie Silverman was an open-minded man, though, and never disapproved of my Jewish mother marrying my Chinese father. He loved everyone and everything, although he perhaps loved partying above all. Initially I was looking forward to the funeral because I couldn't imagine any event of Burnie's without dancing, mingling and food. In all seriousness, I was quite at odds with the lack of those things, although did have his coffin carried out to the tune of "Sing, sing, sing". I was very sad to see him go.
You might imagine that after this day of Judaism I was ready to go to Ground Zero and pour hate upon Israel's Middle Eastern opponents. If you imagined that, though, you would be wrong. When I got to the site of the old World Trade Towers there were those arguing about the various causes and the various blunders of those involved in the disaster. I didn't involve myself in any as I don't like to argue on the matter, but I did think to myself that this is what makes America great. People were not enraged, tempers did not flare and there were no police, but people were in the middle of Ground Zero arguing their heads off. A multitude of opinions could be heard, and no one was getting in the way. Not other people, not the government. It was then that I thought of how disasterously wrong things can go. It's been five years and what have we really accomplished? No new towers built, arguably no more safety, no resolution to the conflicts in the Middle East. Instead, all we've done is given more people all over the world a reason to gather like I and others did today and think about how many people have perished because imaginary lines on a map make it impossible for people to argue, non-violently, like I saw today. Perhaps what I saw today shouldn't just be the spirit of how we approach the problems of today, maybe it should be a model. Perhaps it was fitting that Bernie's funeral was on 9/11. This Jew didn't see any colors or religions, when his son brought home a Palestinian refugee for dinner he merely commented, "we're all Palestinian refugees here."
Today I did three things. I went to a Bris, I went to a funeral and I went to Ground Zero. For those who don't know, a Bris is a Jewish celebration of a male's induction into Judaic tradition with his circumcision. However you feel personally about circumcision, understand that it is a happy event which welcomes a new life into the family. It was the first time I saw my newest second newphew.
After the Bris I went to funeral. A great and honored man in the NY Jewish community had passed. You might imagine just how great he was that he was so close to my family of atheist Chinese Jews. Burnie Silverman was an open-minded man, though, and never disapproved of my Jewish mother marrying my Chinese father. He loved everyone and everything, although he perhaps loved partying above all. Initially I was looking forward to the funeral because I couldn't imagine any event of Burnie's without dancing, mingling and food. In all seriousness, I was quite at odds with the lack of those things, although did have his coffin carried out to the tune of "Sing, sing, sing". I was very sad to see him go.
You might imagine that after this day of Judaism I was ready to go to Ground Zero and pour hate upon Israel's Middle Eastern opponents. If you imagined that, though, you would be wrong. When I got to the site of the old World Trade Towers there were those arguing about the various causes and the various blunders of those involved in the disaster. I didn't involve myself in any as I don't like to argue on the matter, but I did think to myself that this is what makes America great. People were not enraged, tempers did not flare and there were no police, but people were in the middle of Ground Zero arguing their heads off. A multitude of opinions could be heard, and no one was getting in the way. Not other people, not the government. It was then that I thought of how disasterously wrong things can go. It's been five years and what have we really accomplished? No new towers built, arguably no more safety, no resolution to the conflicts in the Middle East. Instead, all we've done is given more people all over the world a reason to gather like I and others did today and think about how many people have perished because imaginary lines on a map make it impossible for people to argue, non-violently, like I saw today. Perhaps what I saw today shouldn't just be the spirit of how we approach the problems of today, maybe it should be a model. Perhaps it was fitting that Bernie's funeral was on 9/11. This Jew didn't see any colors or religions, when his son brought home a Palestinian refugee for dinner he merely commented, "we're all Palestinian refugees here."
posted by Ben at 3:18 PM
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