In some
years, the images and memories are faded, as if from long, long ago. Other
years, the horrors feel as fresh as when the burning towers collapsed.
Yet few
anniversaries of 9/11 have been as fraught with troubling emotions as today’s.
From the vantage point of the 18th anniversary, it is unfortunately true that
the worst day in American history forged the last great moment of national
unity.
The
mourning and sense of common purpose that were so distinct then seem as if they
happened in a different country in another century. Now our nation is not just
polarized. It is fractured.
“I’ve never
seen it like this,” an elderly friend told me recently. “I’m afraid of what’s
happening to our country.”
She is not
alone. And while the 9/11 attack certainly didn’t cause our bitter divisions,
its ramifications are among the powerful forces still shaping our dangerous
world.
President
Trump’s decision to call off peace talks with the Taliban after
a suicide bomber killed an American soldier last week reminds us that the
Afghan terror group that gave safe harbor to Osama bin Laden is still as evil
as ever.
The death of Sgt. 1st Class Elis Barreto Ortiz brings
to nearly 2,400 the number of our service members who have died in Afghanistan
since October of 2001. More than 20,000 have been wounded.
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In Iraq, more than 4,500 US troops have died, with more than
32,000 wounded.
For its
part, New York has somber memorials to the dead as well as living reminders of
the undaunted courage we witnessed on that awful day. The Post reports
that 13 children of firefighters who died trying to save
others are members of the FDNY Academy class that will graduate
in two weeks.
The
“legacy” class also includes the son of a police officer killed on 9/11 and the
sons of two firefighters who died of illnesses linked to their recovery work at
Ground Zero.
“Bravery
runs in these extraordinary families,” Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said.
A brother
of one of the probies put it this way: “There are no negatives. We know the
risks. We always liked helping people.”
Those
brave, straightforward words echo the eulogies at the funerals that dominated
the city for weeks in the aftermath. Survivors and loved ones told the stories
of people who had the extraordinary courage to run into the burning towers and
up the stairs to save others.
Their
sacrifice must never be forgotten.
The city
came back faster and better than anyone had a right to expect. But now a clear
pattern of decline is taking hold.
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The blame goes mostly to our
absentee mayor, who was feckless even before he abandoned
ship in a ridiculous attempt to become president. Only in his juvenile mind is
failing at City Hall a credential for the White House.
Meanwhile,
the quality of life is taking a sharp turn for the worse.
The mood of
many is captured by reader Maria Smith, whose poignant email I quote at length.
She writes:
“I am a
native Staten Islander born there before the bridge and have lived in Battery
Park City for 30 years, from where I witnessed and survived both the 1993
bombings and the 9/11 attack.
“I chose to
stay in lower Manhattan to rebuild my neighborhood at a time when the real
estate value of my home was ‘zero.’
“Half of
Battery Park City moved out after 9/11 but I, along with many others, and
especially Community Board 1, fought to rebuild our neighborhood. It wasn’t
easy.
“We lived
with the National Guard for six months; Con Ed and Verizon wiring lay on top of
the sidewalks for about a year. Many stores closed and never reopened.
“I write
all this on the eve of 9/11 because I am looking at my city now and am
horrified. The streets are filthy. The cops can’t do anything. The homeless situation is beyond tragic. And there
is a hostility and violence in the air that I
have not felt since I moved to Manhattan 30 years ago.
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“To be honest, walking to work today, I thought to myself,
‘Why did I work so hard and choose to fight to stay here?’
“This is
what my city has become: a place for people who are not from New York, who are
either extremely wealthy or extremely poor. A city where the rules no longer
apply. A city where there is once again graffiti. I can’t believe it.
“Yet no one
says anything about how bad things are and it appears as though none of our
political leaders have the courage or guts to take on the lack of leadership of
this mayor.
“I write
out of frustration, out of concern, out of fear. Like so many others have done,
I’m traveling to North Carolina at the end of the month to see what’s available
in terms of jobs and housing.
“I never
thought I would say that. My family goes back to the 1840s in Brooklyn due to
the Irish famine. We are real New Yorkers and one by one we are leaving.
“I am
usually upbeat about my home, my city, but this summer turned out to be a
tipping point.”
There is no
argument or even a quibble over a single thing she says. Eighteen years after
its worst day, the city faces a new crisis. This one is self-inflicted.