9/11

For me, today has always been first and foremost my grandparents’ wedding anniversary and my childhood dog’s birthday. Today, I too, remember a few of those I love who are no longer with me, but the memories are happy ones. I realize that for most it is largely a day of clear-cut grief. But it’s just another quiet, sunny day in Costa Rica; no newspaper arrives on our doorstep to read over breakfast, we have no TV from which to blare a morning news show, and the white noise from the radio, if we turned it on, would emit Spanish Christian rock rather than public radio reports on America’s newsworthy events. Living (comfortably and thankfully) outside the bounds of all the 9/11 media build-up and hype I must mainline the internet to get a feeling for the extent of our country’s continued sorrow and observances on this day, which is what I do.

I read the widespread AP article, “Heads Bow in Memory of 9/11 Victims,” in the SF Chronicle as well as the less-spread article “Six Years After 9/11, Why We’re Losing the War on Terror “ on alternet.org (in case you’re wondering, the answer starts with “B” and ends with “h”). I also find this to be a topic on KPFA.org’s Democracy Now! (go Amy Goodman!).

I also review 911blogger.com, where I find the refreshingly apt announcement of today’s Truth, Peace, & Impeachment March and Rally in Washington D.C. and NYC which will “honor the victims of 9/11 and the thousands of casualties of the illegal wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and to demand that Congress investigate the omissions and distortions in the 9/11 report, end the so-called ‘war on terror,’ impeach the criminals in the White House and restore our constitutional rights.”

What I don’t find prominent in any of America’s mainstream media (but I find buried a couple of pages and headlines down on cnn.com) is what the Guardian U.K. is headlining, that “Bin Laden Releases Video on 9/11 Anniversary” which praises the 9/11 hijackers and features a statement from one of the hijackers who crashed into the World Trade Center. In contrast, the only headline in Costa Rica’s national newspaper about the U.S. is, “US Sets Eyes on Panama Casinos.” At home, our citizens are being duly assembled and placated; in the world at large, whether exposing the real truths or ignoring our day of national mourning, it’s just business as usual. Predictable. I’ll go back to my quiet, sunny day now, be grateful, and think of my grandparents and my dog.