September 11th anniversary: We must realize wars without end is not the answer

By Mary MacElveen
September 11, 2009

On both my Twitter page and my Facebook.com page, I wrote this entry concerning the of eighth-year anniversary of the September 11th, 2001 attacks upon this country: “With reverence to the victims who died on September 11, 2001, we must realize a war without end is not the answer!”

At this point, hearing or reading upon death upon death, I do not care what your belief of how so many died on that day. All I care of is how many took place because a government dropped the ball and how many lives were lost due to those circumstances. Each life lost on that day was precious and most importantly we must realize that fact.

According to Anti-War.com, they have listed every single name of one of OUR soldiers who have died since May 1st, 2003 in Iraq without bringing those who lost their lives in Afghanistan. As we concentrate on beefing up the forces in that country, many more will die as we have seen with increased military deaths in the past few months. We must NOT forget of the civilian deaths in both Afghanistan and Iraq. What crime did they commit to die by the hands of our country? Nothing!

As many have concentrated solely on military deaths, I have taken important notice of the civilian deaths, especially babies. I have seen their photos and it sickens me to death. I have seen the photos of our soldiers whose faces and bodies have been ripped to shreds realizing there is NO purpose to these endless wars. Oh God, stop these wars!

Last night as our President, Barack Obama was discussing healthcare before a joint congressional message to both houses of congress, a South Carolina congressman, Joe Wilson called him a liar when it came to the question of coverage for undocumented immigrants of this country. According to the AP, he shouted out with finger pointed: “You liar”. At that point, I wanted to smack him across the face! I still do as he was forced by the Republican leadership to apologize to the president.

It galls me that if someone had done the same thing and directed it at former President, George W. Bush, he or she would have been scorned for a life-time and thrown out of either the senate or congress. Most likely, he or she would have been branded un-patriotic and thrown into GITMO.

Here we have a president who is trying to save lives through better healthcare as opposed to a former president who lied through his teeth to end lives. I would call that unforgiveable.

Looking back and remembering that bright-sunny day where over 3,000 lives were lost: one of the most memorable visual imageries I will take away from that day is of how many leapt to their deaths from the Twin Towers or the first-responders who climbed their own stair ways to Heaven in order to save lives. We must not forget their selfless sacrifice to our country and their fellow human beings.

I fully believe that we who cherish life must own this day forever more instead of those who seek to destroy lives. The victims of that day would be screaming from the Heavens above for us to do so. After all, they know what it is like to lose their lives where we do not.

As many of our fellow citizens scream out for healthcare not only for themselves, but for others, we must remember how much money is being spent on wars without end. While some estimates say this new healthcare package will cost $900 billion over ten years, the wars without end have so far cost you and me, a little over $908 billion dollars and still climbing by the second.

Do we say to the victims of September 11, 2001: We do not care how you died, we only care of war, or do we say to them we for once will get this right? What is right after all? Till we blow each other to smithereens or till we finally get it that life is worth preserving?

Attacks to our country come in many forms and one of them is nature. Nature has taught us that if man does not strike, oh she will. These lessons can be learned from the hurricanes that struck us in Katrina, Rita and Gustav to the firestorms that have hit California lately. All of these events bring about terror to their victims and let us not forget about the costs of helping these victims.

In these events, we do not have any body or any group to target, but the lives lost are as equally important to those who died on September 11th, 2001. Perhaps, that is our lesson after all.

To those who lost loved ones on September 11th, my heart breaks for you. All who died on that horrific day are forever in my prayers as I oppose these wars without end. We have had enough people dying and it is time to say enough and to change the course of this country.

Author’s email address is, xmjmac@optonline.net

Copyrighted material: To use portions of this column, please email the author.