Today is a business day in most of the world, even in the nation attacked 12 years ago which officially marks it as “Patriot Day“. Many would agree it was better not to make it a federal holiday, since doing so would risk showing terrorists they had the power to make a holiday in the wealthiest and most powerful nation the world has ever known.
Personally, I do not remember 9/11 solely as an attack against the United States, but as a horrific destruction of innocent life and a deliberate blow to the world economic order. What I believe that means for the future is what we can learn from it: 12 years later, from Lahore to Damascus and beyond, there remain too many places where too many underemployed young men remain unconnected to the world economy and see suicide terrorism as an acceptable option. I will not comment on what the political, military, or religious rights or wrongs might be, but economically, I find it hard to argue whether investment and job creation in the right place are the ounce of prevention to many other potential future attacks.
On my visit to New York this summer, I saw the new One World Trade Center tower from all sides, but did not walk to ground zero this time. Even though I was fortunate enough to not be in NY that dreadful day, or to have personally lost anyone I knew, somehow in the back of my mind I feel I might not have been ready to go back and see what was built on the hole that dominated downtown NY’s heart for so long. When the new WTC building was unfinished, it at least still felt like an accurate reflection of the fact that a mission many of us were reminded of on 9/11 was still unfinished – but now even with a ready building, there is so much more to do on the other side of the world. Looking back pre-2001, or even more nostalgically at pre-1971 photos like the one below, may tempt us into romanticizing a simpler or more forgettable time, but as beautiful as that may seem to day, there is still so much work to be done developing those pockets on this side of the world…
