Editorial: ‘The struggle of memory against forgetting’

The nation will be in mourning on Friday, Sept. 11, as it has been for the past 24 Septembers.

The date in 2001 was the end of many things and the beginning of just as many more, marking the true start of the 21st century.
Historians will tell you that Nov. 23, 1963, the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, was the commencement of the 1960s, kicking off years of tumult, protests, demonstrations and hard-won social changes. Following this logic, the 20th century didn’t become its own unique era until the “Guns of August” in 1914, when World War I began, ushering in the bloodiest century in history — at least to date.

Sept. 11, 2001, even though it was 19 months after the turn of the millennium, brought us truly into a new century when our world shifted like the ground with earthquake tremors. We have seen the birth of “Forever Wars” that have resulted in millions of casualties — and achieved practically nothing — since President George W. Bush declared a “global war on terror” and something called “the axis of evil.”

We’ve seen the assault on civil liberties, freedoms eroded, and misinformation — from non-existent Iraqi “weapons of mass destruction” to President Trump recently saying the war in Iran isn’t really a war, but in fact is “small potatoes.” That brings to mind something written by the great Czech novelist Milan Kundera: “The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.”

Too many leaders would wish we had faulty memories.

That’s why it’s heartening to understand that Americans don’t forget the “last full measure of devotion,” as Lincoln said, that fellow citizens gave to their country in the 21st-century wars. And this week, Americans will remember the heroism on 9/11. And their duty to honor all first responders.