EDITORIAL UNITED WE STAND IT'S TIME TO RETURN FROM 'NORMAL'.IN the days and weeks after Sept. 11, 2001, our leaders implored us to return to life as ``normal,'' and we obliged. That was a mistake. Three years later, it's frightening just how ``normal'' we've allowed life to become. The term ``9-11'' has become a political slogan, a film title, a phrase so overused that we've become numb to its meaning. Even the pictures - the burning towers, the bodies hurtling toward the ground, the seared sear 1 v. seared, sear·ing, sears v.tr. 1. To char, scorch, or burn the surface of with or as if with a hot instrument. See Synonyms at burn1. 2. Pentagon and the wreckage of an airplane heroically downed in a Pennsylvania field - have lost much of their sting. We've returned to normal, all right. Our politicians, who once joined together to sing ``God Bless America'' on the Capitol steps, now savage each other with impunity IMPUNITY. Not being punished for a crime or misdemeanor committed. The impunity of crimes is one of the most prolific sources whence they arise. lmpunitas continuum affectum tribuit delinquenti. 4 Co. 45, a; 5 Co. 109, a. . And as a country, we have allowed political differences to fester fester /fes·ter/ (fes´ter) to suppurate superficially. fes·ter v. 1. To ulcerate. 2. To form pus; putrefy. n. An ulcer. into personal hatred. We don't merely disagree with Verb 1. disagree with - not be very easily digestible; "Spicy food disagrees with some people" hurt - give trouble or pain to; "This exercise will hurt your back" the other side - we despise it, we accuse it of the most sinister motives and reckless intentions. We used to say that if we didn't return to ``normal,'' the terrorists would win. How wrong we were. Returning to ``normal'' and all its worst elements - the vanity, the division, the vitriol vitriol: see sulfuric acid. - couldn't possibly have pleased our enemies more. It wasn't like this three years ago, when radical Islamic terrorists made it clear that they were just as happy to slaughter Democrats as Republicans. We all put flags on our cars, and donations poured into the Red Cross. Politicians of both parties worked together, not by burying their differences, but by keeping them in perspective. It would be easy, but a mistake, to pin all the current division on parties and politicians. They play to the basest elements among us because it works, because we buy into the accusations, the smears, the pumped-up anger. They must clean up their act, but so must we all. And that can only begin by recalling what was so clear three years ago: Ours is a country at war, attacked by a vicious enemy that fully intends to attack again. When we are hit, we will mourn together, just as when our troops wage the War on Terror This article is about U.S. actions, and those of other states, after September 11, 2001. For other conflicts, see Terrorism. The War on Terror (also known as the War on Terrorism overseas, they fight valiantly for us all. United we stand - for a short while, it was the national mantra mantra (măn`trə, mŭn–), in Hinduism and Buddhism, mystic words used in ritual and meditation. A mantra is believed to be the sound form of reality, having the power to bring into being the reality it represents. . And if we are ever to win this war, so it must be again. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: no caption (Twin Towers burning) Daniel Hulshizer/Associated Press |
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