If I promise not to forget will you stop reminding me to never forget? How about if I promise to understand who is responsible and promise to hold a grudge until I die? Will that suit your need for my remembering?
It's impossible to honor American heroes, real people who step up, without also burnishing enduring grudges.
We're already remembering the Maine and that was a bogus incident. Speaking of those, The Tonkin Incident is remembered too and that narrative is uncertain as well. Those aren't my grudges but I'm remembering them anyway along with Pearl Harbor, can't forget that, and the Alamo we're told to remember as well. Fine. that's a lot of grudge-related remembering and getting worked up all over again. Is that the intention with four hundred reminders to remember before breakfast?
It's quite impossible to forget, as that time when Israel attacked the USS Liberty unprovoked just to prove it will not be watched in its waters. Nor will we forget Leon Klinghoffer tossed off the Archille Lauro or the Olympic bombings in Atlanta and the politically motivated disaster at the Munich Olympics. This remembering must be focused on the thing that happened this day fourteen years ago. Then next year fifteen years ago and that year provides time enough for another incident to remember on another day until all the days of the year are filled up with such grievances to keep in mind for that whole day at least, so if you have any media opened you can expect a million reminders to remember unhappy things every day of the year throughout the whole year. Forever.
8 comments:
If you want to read a story of true heroism, google the name Rick Rescorla. He saved more than 2500 lives on 9/11, then lost his own life going back into the building in an effort to save more.
Sorry Chip but the American voter has already forgotten - it elected Obama twice.
Indeed, Haz. All of the people who ran into those buildings - the jaws of death - to save lives are as brave as any soldier on the front lines. Never forgotten.
http://www.badassoftheweek.com/rescorla.html
"I remember the heroes of 9/11. I remember the courage of a nation. I Refuse to remember the terrorists and their cowardice."
A tweet.
Texans haven't forgotten the Alamo.
Why should we forget this?
To remember is to call to mind. For what purpose is the question.
Calling to mind that which is:
True
Noble
Right
Pure
Lovely
Admirable
Excellent
Deserving of Praise,
and thinking on these things is advised by one oft quoted writer, with different translations adding Honorable and Precious to the list.
While definitions of those attributes may vary and thinking about them can lead one down unexpected paths, including that of being unable to hold another human in contempt as sub-human, calling them to mind and thinking about them can help form the foundation for the calling of human behavior into accountability and the balanced administration of justice and mercy.
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