The aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, is a grinding legacy for the American people. Aer the shock of losing over 3,000 people at the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and the crash of Flight 93 on that single day, thousands more have suffered and died after being exposed to toxins at the World Trade Center site. The wars to finally end the militant Islamic terrorism threat took away over 4,000 more lives during combat, and yet unknown more from toxic exposure at the bases where they served. Over $8 trillion was spent in total, impacting the lives of hundreds of millions.
Today, with the exception of a terrorist body count and generally suppressed terrorist activity, we have little else to show for our tragic and expensive undertaking. A murderous dictator in Iraq was replaced by a divided and unstable broken state. The same bad guys who were ruling Afghanistan in 2001 are back in power and reimplementing the Dark Ages on their people. Now as we observe the 21st anniversary of the attack, amid the backdrop of post-COVID, the war in Ukraine, and tensions with China, the feeling is that remembrance is solely with the first responder, military and veteran communities, along with the families of all of the fallen.
Let us consider replacing Labor Day with a 9/11 Remembrance Day, celebrated on the first Monday in September. Expressing a simple opinion to others can often put you in “high threat” situation these days, so I don’t venture this lightly. Labor Day dates back to 1894 when it was formally declared a federal holiday. Those were the bad old days of child labor, dangerous sweatshop working conditions, and powerful tyrannical bosses who could make life utterly miserable for their workers. With the exception of the now much lower instances of tyrannical bosses, labor conditions have greatly improved over the last 100 years, and the holiday now serves to simply mark the end of summer for the overwhelming majority of Americans.
A 9/11 Remembrance Day would serve not only the memory of the sacrifice and horrors faced by the victims and first responders on Sept. 11, 2001, but to act as a yearly reminder that the consequences of letting our guard down, like prior to Pearl Harbor and 9/11, always invites monumental, catastrophic, demoralizing, and costly tragedy and war. What do you say?
PACT Act Survivor Benefits
After writing several times in this column of the toxic exposure PACT Act, I realized I never specifically mentioned Survivor Benefits for the family members left behind after a veteran passed on from one of the illnesses now covered. Obviously, this can be a very complicated situation, but survivors of those who would have been otherwise eligible should be able to receive benefits. The URL below takes you to a VA “cheat sheet” on survivors benefits, however I strongly encourage seeking help from the county Veterans Service Officer or a veterans organization for assistance. https://bit.ly/3AQHSjL
