Patriot Day and National Day of Service and Remembrance

Sunday was the 21st anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center in New York City, the attack on the Pentagon in Arlington, VA, and the intentional downing of Flight 93 near Shanksville, PA, before it could be used to attack an unknown target. These acts of international terrorism perpetrated by Islamic extremists must not be forgotten. President Biden’s proclamation designating today as the National Day of Service and Remembrance Day, in addition to the existing Patriot’s Day, is an appropriate call for citizens not to forget the events of “9/11” in 2001. To act on this remembrance, we are asked to perform public service. Such acts honor those first responders who risked their lives and died or were injured in answering the tragic events that day. The service also honors the many other Americans who serve daily by responding to disasters, tragedies, and acts of aggression.
But let us not forget the attacks on September 11, 2001, did not occur in a vacuum. They were perpetrated out of anger and hatred for actions by the United States and other western countries regarding the treatment of the Palestinians and other Arabs, Persians, and Moslems in general in the Middle East and beyond, over centuries of perceived mistreatment by predominantly Christian and in the case of Israel, Jewish, nations and their governments. This western aggression includes the Persian Gulf War in 1991, involving the invasion of Iraq by the United States and its allies. As a conscientious objector, I condemn all forms of violence, especially actions of aggression such as wars, but I cannot ignore the causes of aggression and the need to address, and if possible, eliminate the causes.
Aggressive reactions in response to aggression only beget more acts of violence in a never-ending cascade of hatred. By responding to the events of September 11 through the second invasion of Iraq while looking for weapons of mass destruction that did not exist, and by invading Afghanistan in an attempt to capture or eradicate the perpetrators of the attacks on the United States, we killed thousands and left thousands maimed including our own. We spent trillions and unleashed more hatred, cultural destruction, famine, and global instability for which there seems to be no end. Is the world really any safer? War is never the answer, something humankind, or at least the world’s governments, seem never to learn despite centuries of examples.
So, yes, let us remember September 11, 2001, and all the September 11ths thereafter by performing service in the form of love, non-violence, and gratitude. We, humans, are capable of peaceful acts of kindness and understanding, not only hatred, distrust, and aggression. As the saying goes, “an eye for an eye leaves us all blind.” We are better than that and must act accordingly to save humankind from itself.


1. https://www.history.com/topics/21st-century/9-11-attacks
2. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2022/09/09/a-proclamation-on-patriot-day-and-national-service
3. https://www.census.gov/newsroom/stories/patriot-service-remembrance-day.html