From: Natasha Vita-More (natasha@natasha.cc)
Date: Wed Sep 11 2002 - 10:51:50 MDT
I was thinking of John Perry today, a former Alcor member who didn't find
the time to resign up after an untimely lapse. John was an attorney and
policeman in New York City and volunteered to help on 9/11. His body was
found.
http://membres.lycos.fr/jwperry/index-1.html
http://www.livejournal.com/talkread.bml?itemid=437161&journal=vyoma/jwpe
With permission:
"September 11: Enough Day
Dubya, acting upon a joint resolution of Congress, has declared September
11 to be Patriot Day. According to his proclamation, we're supposed to
"...observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities..." and to
"...display the flag at half-staff from their homes and observe a moment of
silence at 8:46 a.m. EDT," this in honor of the Americans who died in the
terorist attack.
You know, personally I think this just stinks to hell. I have a better
idea, so I'm making a proclamation of my own, which of course is completely
unendorsed by any US politicians I'm aware of.
I'm declaring September 11 "International Enough Day." Enough flag-waving,
enough violence, enough nationalism. Enough already. September 11 was not
an American tragedy, it was a human tragedy. It was a tragedy not just for
the people in the US who died, but for every innocent person killed as a
result of the US reaction to the attacks as well. It was a tragedy for the
human spirit, regardless of nationality, religion, and anything else.
On September 11, let's say "Enough." No more killing. Let's remember not
only the victims of the hijacked airplanes in the US, but of the embassy
bombings in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. Let's remember all the Israelis
killed by Palestinian bombers and all teh Palestinians killed by Israeli
troops. Let's remember all the innocent people slain by Union Carbide in
Bhopal, India in 1984. Let's take the day to contemplate the people who've
been victims of genocidal warfare in Africa, and the ones who've starved to
death because of political games as well. Let's remember the victims of the
Holocaust and of the firebombing of Dresden, too. Let's not forget those
who were slain in the Mai Lai Massacre. Instead of waving the flag of one
nation and thinking only about our own dead, let's make September 11 a day
to remember all the people who've died at the hands of someone else's
political agenda through no fault of their own, and let's say enough. We
should stand up and disavow this, no matter what country we're in, no
matter what religion we are, no matter our political affiliation or status
or race or anything else.
If we had a moment of silence marking the time of every attrocity ever
committed in the name of nationalism, religion... every attrocity committed
in the name of the artificial borders that try to make us forget that we're
all human, all in this together, all fragile creatures whose lives can be
snuffed out in an instant through no fault of our own... then we would
never speak again.
So we here in America should, I think, observe September 11 as the day when
the nightmares that humans around the world have been living with for
decades came lumbering ashore on the East Coast of the US. We should see it
for what it is; the day the US truly experienced the horror that rings like
a bell around the globe, from South America to the Middle East to
Micronesia, the day we joined the human race at a most profound and
fundamental level.
There should be no "Patriot Day," no day to further emphasize thaty we're
different. Instead, let's say "Enough." Enough of putting the interests of
any one nation above the interests of the human race. Enough dwelling on
our small differences. Enough killing each other over them. Enough hate,
enough fear, enough hunger, enough violence, enough bombing, enough enough
enough ENOUGH.
We should each find our own way of expressing this. A moment of silence...
or perhaps a day of silence. Meditation, art, whatever it is that you do...
do it. Take the day to celebrate the lives of all of us -- wherever we're
from and whatever we believe -- who are still here, and think on those --
wherever they were, whenever they were and whatever they were -- who
weren't so lucky. Take the day to remember the fragility of human life and
all the nightmares wrought by those who wanted to impose their will upon
the whole of humanity. Commit no act of violence, however small. Let go of
any hatred and prejudice and thirst for revenge and, for one day, see
yourself in the other and the other in yourself.
Do whatever you do, and do it to say ENOUGH."
I think John would have appreciated this article.
Natasha
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