I went into see my 12-year-old son in his room to say “good morning” on Thursday.
“It’s a sad day,” Reed said, sitting on the edge of his bed.
“It sure is, bud,” I said. “We don’t kill or hurt people for expressing their political views in this country. That’s not what America is about.”
“It’s hard to believe 3,000 people were killed on this day back in 2001,” Reed responded. “I’m glad we went to the memorial in New York this summer to honor them.”
He had no idea about conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination the day before. And I’d totally forgotten that it was Sept. 11.
The latter bothered me all day.
Have I become so desensitized that I can’t even remember 9/11 on 9/11? And the reality hit me that America has completely lost touch with the lessons of 9/11. We were so united after the terrorist attacks. It seemed like we made a concerted effort to try to understand – or at least tolerate – fellow Americans who didn’t share the same political and religious views.
We’d hit rock bottom as a nation when those planes hit our buildings, so it seemed. It felt like America would never look back. Nothing could break our resolve after that. We were alert and awake, taking stock of what really mattered in our lives – faith, family, loving our neighbors and nation. It took a massive loss of lives for America to collectively value life.
You were important to me. And I was important to you. It didn’t matter who we voted for or what message was shared at our preferred house of worship. It just felt like we’d forever love our neighbor even if he put an opposing political sign in his front yard.
That unity, love and understanding is all gone now. It disappeared years ago.
We’ve forgotten it.
It was fleeting, knee-jerk emotions.
We’ve done a terrible job of passing along the lessons of 9/11 to the generation that didn’t live through it.
Twenty-four years ago today, it would’ve been unthinkable that there’d ever be a day in America where a fellow citizen would be assassinated for peaceably sharing his political and religious beliefs in a public (or private) forum. And no way would anyone openly celebrate that killing, so it seemed.
Of course, we didn’t have social media in 2001. Thank God. Because it probably would’ve instantly foiled all our feel-good unity. Undoubtedly, there would’ve been Americans posting about how America deserved what happened, just like we had people celebrating Kirk being shot dead while speaking at a Utah university on Sept. 10.
Here we are, no better off today than we were nearly a quarter-century ago. Perhaps we’re worse off. We’re now destroying ourselves from within – and some people are celebrating that.
We’d rather take a side, dig in on it, post about it and silence anyone who may challenge it. We want to live in a vacuum where my side is the only side. We only follow and watch people who are on that side. We choose friends based on who they voted for. Facts be damned. Civility be damned. Different viewpoints be damned.
Maybe Charlie Kirk taught us a lesson for how to get out of this rut. I’m not talking about what he said or believed in. I’m talking about his approach. Kirk went to places where people disagreed with him, often public college campuses. He shared his views in a civil manner.
Everywhere Kirk went, he set up a microphone to allow those who disagreed with him a chance to speak and ask questions. Often times, the open debate was in front of thousands of people. He listened. He promoted free speech and the sharing of different viewpoints.
What a great idea.
We all should try to shut up and listen.
Contact columnist Jason Williams at jwilliams@enquirer.com
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Williams: Does Charlie Kirk killing show we’ve forgotten lessons of 9/11?
Reporting by Jason Williams, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
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