It's Broken. Let's Fix It.

We'll never forget, so there's really no need to keep reminding us of what we'll never forget.  Ever.

As long as I live, I'll never forget the morning phone call from my mom telling me to be careful, that there might be riots or something because two planes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York.  Then my alarm went off at the crack of 10.  I heard Rick Dees (awful memory of his voice) confirm my mom's report, and that one of the planes took off from Boston, that it was supposed to land in LA.  My friend flew that flight frequently.  I called him, and he answered to my great relief.

The rest of the day seems surreal.  I came downstairs and talked with the Sikh family across the street.  They wore turbans and were quick to assure me that Sikhs were a peaceful people.  They already knew that anybody in a turban would be implicated.  I called my ex-boyfriend (now husband) and we spent the day together.

In the days and weeks that followed, I recall hoping that the feeling of unity and collective sadness would bring a divided nation together.  We were still reeling from an election determined not by the number of votes, but by an irrational decision by the Supreme Court.  And then George Bush uttered those fateful words as he addressed Congress, "If you're not with us, you're against us."

It's been us versus them since.

In every way possible, our nation is split.  The gap between those with monetary wealth and those without continues to widen.  Snakes run for office and spit venom at each other, hoping to capitalize on the hate we feel for each other.  We have been deliberately cheated, lied to, and misinformed by those in power in an effort to keep us placated.  I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but the things I see are decidedly different from what I hear.

We are a nation obsessed with reality, but a completely false reality.  Somehow, the Kardashians, the Real Housewives, and dipshits in New Jersey have captured our collective imagination and transport us away from real life.  We watch obscene displays of wasteful wealth on flat screen TVs, sitting comfortably on overstuffed couches in foreclosed homes as we wait for the phone to ring with a job opportunity.

Instead of dwelling on the 10 year anniversary of that awful day, which none of us with the capability of long-term memory will ever forget (even without the articles and documentaries and photo essays and interactive maps) by crying (which I've done this week), do something productive and peaceful. 

We have clear evidence from the debacles in Iraq and Afghanistan that evil doesn't wipe out evil.  Like Donnie Deutsch shouts, "THERE HAS GOT TO BE A BETTER WAY!"  That great evil conceived by one man and carried out by more evil men on September 11, 2001, can only be negated by an act of love as extravagantly magnificent. 

If each of us took it upon ourselves to turn off the TV, wake up to our potential, and take action, we might actually get that change we so passively hoped for in 2008.

Turn off your TV.  Turn off the mind-numbing blabber and look outside.  There's a world that needs you.  Desperately.  People need  your contributions, your time, your talents, and your passion (whatever it is!).    But do something, anything, to make it better for everybody.

Spend the day in the garden with your kids. Share a glass of wine with a neighbor. Bake cookies and take them to your local fire house. Attend a religious service at a different church, or at a house of worship from a religion different from your own. Simply shake your neighbor's hand. Call someone and tell them you are thankful for their presence in the world. Plant a tree. If you're looking for a job, volunteer. Your time is priceless (and it might lead to a paying job!).  Take one hour a week and commit to a local school, a shelter, a tutoring center, or a local charity. Walk for breast cancer. Run a canned food drive in your neighborhood this month. Find a park and pick up trash. Call your friends or do it alone.  Commit to being good, fighting for good, promoting good and peace and love.

Over a decade ago, a group of evil people conceived of a way to make our country worse.  It worked.  I suspect few of us are better off today than we were 10 years ago.  But we have within us that which makes it better.  We have the capacity to commit acts of goodness both small and grand, all of which are extraordinary.  We have the power to make it better.  We can.  We should.  We're out of options.

We must.