9/11

Anything that I write will pale by comparison with millions of other words. I wasn't in New York on 9/11. In fact, I wasn't even in North America. I was in Turkey- a Muslim country, of course. It's a country that I love and have visited often. I have friends there. Muslims.

I learned about the tragedy when a friend called. Cigdem was horror-stricken to share such news. I recall being touched by her sorrow and compassion for everyone who had died. And the Turkish people- not only friends but strangers in the streets and shops- were going out of their way to find Americans and express grief and solidarity.

Looking back, it seems like another world. The war continues- far past the fabrication of the US excuses for attacking Iraq. I don't doubt that the issues raised will continue for the rest of our lives as Islam wrestles with its own (internal) processes of Reformation, much as the West underwent Reformation for 200 years.

But one thing occurs to me very time I see news reports from Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Lebanon, Yemen, Somalia, Nigeria, Iran, Egypt, Gaza, etc. We in the US are attentive to the losses which we endured on 9/11. It is only right. And yet, we all- (myself included)- have become inured to the body count in the daily bombings in those places. But how to keep track of this international catastrophe when the collateral damage is so enormous?

Perhaps it's not possible? But am I alone in wondering if there is something ethnocentric about our fixation for the victims of 9/11? After all, just as many- probably more- die each week in the spiraling violence attending this 1,000 year old conflict of religions, concepts of morality and culture, the "proper" sexual role of women (not even getting into the LGBT thing) and what true democracy is, or should be. Or if it's even relevant?

I certainly don't have ultimate answers. But in thinking about Syria, Israel, Iran, North Korea, nukes, or ecological issues like polar bears who no longer have ice to live on due to global warming, I can't help but wonder where we place our valuations. In saying that, I don't mean to cast blame or criticize. I'm just saying: I do wonder.