A Moment of Silence
11 September 2002, 8:12 AM

It was at about 8:45am (Texas time) a year ago that I turned on the television and saw the images of a frightening act of violence, one that used the everyday tools of modern life as weapons of mass destruction against ordinary working people.

I know the world has seen far too many horrors such as this. Instead of seeing them cease, they continue and we grow immune to them. That is, until one brings something new to shock us to our core with.

This act shocked the world. Why? Maybe because we associate politically-motivated acts of violence with traditional weapons, not such ordinary objects of our modern western life - transportation and an office building. Maybe because it was massive. We're used to the news stories of a fire in a small building or a bomb going off in a subway. Maybe because it was so simple and yet so unbearably brutish. Those of us in the western world are often so detached from similar brutish horrors that happen in other corners of the world.

And maybe it was because it affected so many citizens of the world. 91 countries lost citizens that day. Though it didn't happen on British soil, it was the biggest act of terrorism that their citizens have ever suffered. And New York is a city of the world - like Paris or London, it belongs to everyone and not just us Americans. Seeing the movie-like fear and destruction to a city that is a cultural icon around the world probably made people connect with the event.

For a brief moment, there was world-wide unity and expressions of compassion that felt deeper and even more meaningful, more REAL than that which we saw during Millennium celebrations. I so wish that hadn't been so fleeting, and that we were so compassionate with each other, globally, on a daily basis.

Today I don't feel like writing much. Not even about how I felt that day a year ago, or how I felt the following week or how I feel now. Instead, I'd rather just observe a day of silence.

As an American, this is to respectfully observe that moment one year ago, when the safety of our nation's soil was violated.

As a woman and a feminist, this is to remember and reflect on the fact that ordinary folks - women, men, children and the elderly, all who just want to get up in the morning, go to work and get through the day like everybody else - are violently used as pawns by smaller groups of people motivated by hate and anger.

And as a member of the global community, this is to respectfully remember all those who have become the victims of any horrific act of hate-motivated violence, and to hope for the day when meaningful and deep compassion are more common.

Peace.

Please.