![\"Jaime](\"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/userimg\/jaiver21.jpg\")
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We visited the Twin Towers’ site in Manhattan two years ago.\u00a0 We suggested then that Ground Zero is no longer in a pit of mangled steel on the southern tip of the former Dutch colony, but on the heartland and mindscape of America.<\/p>\n
America commemorates the 10th anniversary of 911, the emergency distress signal that took place 9.11.01.\u00a0 The perpetuators of the 911-event were not oblivious of the high symbology of the occasion.\u00a0 Neither should we.<\/p>\n
There are as many perspectives this day as there are people reflecting on it.<\/p>\n
The Event. Four hijacked jets were commandeered for Washington, D.C., and NYC.\u00a0The New York-bound ones found their targets: the iconic Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in Manhattan.\u00a0Of the D.C.-bound, one found the Pentagon, but the second, headed for either the White House or Congress, was thwarted by its passengers and crashed into a Pennsylvania field.\u00a0Some 3,000 persons representing 90 nationalities died that day.<\/p>\n
The Impact. The United States was stunned; officially, it descended into paroxysms of fear, and flung itself into a beehive of defense activities.\u00a0Homeland Security was born; no official questioned its expenditure that in a decade totaled half a trillion dollars. There are even those who think that trade, commerce, and employment in security industries and institutions is good for the U.S. economy!<\/p>\n
The Story.\u00a0The most common in the media that is still used to plug and pluck on the heartstring of America is the picture of a nation under siege.\u00a0\u00a0 Innocent America got a wake-up call, the story goes, and the rude awakening is forcing it to deal with ugly global realities it did not know before.<\/p>\n
Not so.\u00a0Two views (and there are many) are contained in the comment: \u201cone person’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Indeed, Osama bin laden, the alleged 911 mastermind, was our Mujahadeen freedom fighter against Russia in Afghanistan!<\/p>\n
The American view for the last decade remains that of the victim who needs to shore up defenses against the stranger and the foreigner.\u00a0 Military strategy graduated into \u201cthe best defense is offense.\u201d\u00a0 All aliens are suspect until proven innocent.<\/p>\n
But there are those convinced that the United States is just getting back what it liberally ladles around as the sole sovereign empire in the world with its 150 military installations outside of its sovereign boundaries.<\/p>\n
We are solicitous of rapacious corporate tentacles, exploitative machines, addictive chemicals, impersonal engines, and arrogant personnel, yet we are baffled by the question often asked: \u201cWhy is there animosity against U.S. in the world?\u201d<\/p>\n
Inflicting psychological fear is an established State-sanctioned tactic.\u00a0 Applied in reverse,\u00a0 we rejoice in the effects of the Jasmine Spring uprisings in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, and Syria because those who have long been downtrodden are finding vengeful voices to say \u201cNO\u201d to the stranglehold of their political lords.<\/p>\n
The Necessary Deed.\u00a0\u00a0America transformed the tragic terrain of terrorism into the memorial gardens of the World Trade Center with cascading waters into recessed pools and an eternal pose for reflections in the shadows of the 104-floor Freedom Tower and the shorter World Trade Center 4. \u00a0The pit has turned into an architectural wonder that is worth every visitor’s time.\u00a0Good Morning America is saying, \u201cYes\u201d, to a new day!<\/p>\n
The deed of 911 has since evolved into an acute awareness of global experiences of terror beyond the WTC, from the continuing devastation of the planet to the seemingly endless human capacity to inflict pain and suffering on others – women, children, the helpless and the weird, the marginalized and the unprotected, of which the American hand is not clean.\u00a0 What has become clear is that there is no defense against terrorism of any kind, more so of those officially sanctioned by the State.\u00a0 Indeed, as commemoration occurs today in Manhattan, no one feels any safer than they were ten years ago.<\/p>\n
But we see a new Ground Zero swelling in the ordinary and common heartland and mindscape of America.\u00a0 It is a profound resolve to segue into sustainable global economics that honors the integrity of the planet, the equitable distribution of resource and production for all, and invites the whole world, not just Wall Street, to take over ownership of its processes.<\/p>\n
America’s democratic tradition baptized with fire in its shoddy treatment of African-Americans, and its fear of immigrants that constitutes its political DNA, nevertheless moves on the consensus of et pluribus unum, and makes it a world-wide call as well. Main Street is making the call.\u00a0 It invites the whole world to take responsibility for emerging a New World in common efforts among the world’s people.<\/p>\n
More importantly, we see emerging a genuine humility that is distancing itself away from the old dominating trait of patriarchy and imperialism into practices of cooperation and collaboration.\u00a0 American flags ‘Made in China’ fly in porches today, a telling reality. No need to apologize.\u00a0The pride of Ground Zero is not about being a victim, but on being a vanguard in the creation of the new human; its strength is not on being fearful of others but in being interdependent in concert with others.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d the skeptical asks.\u00a0Go look into the mirror.\u00a0Then ask yourself: \u201cWhy not?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0By Jaime R. Vergara Special to the Saipan Tribune We visited the Twin Towers’ site…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17743\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}