The unwritten poem.

I thought for some time that I would write a poem today to serve as an anniversary statement about my feelings five years after the poem "September 11, 2001" which I wrote on September 12, 2001.  Here we are, five years later and I find that I have no interest in writing that poem. My blog of September 07, 2006 included the poem "September 11, 2001".

I recall how deeply I was affected by that terrible day. From December 20, 2001 through to January 5, 2002, I neither turned on my TV nor read any newspapers. I went into “seclusion” and listened to music and read a number of books. I did not want to be faced with the horrible images that we have all seen or to be exposed to on-going commentary relating to the Year 2001. I had had enough, a point of super saturation!

Yesterday I read a few words from my newspaper and caught a few of the American President’s words. I read on the internet some words from an address by the Canadian Prime Minister. I got the feeling that both these men were attempting to justify their countries involvement in war. Their solution to terrorism seems to be to fight, to kill all those individuals who can be described as terrorists before they come to North America.

What those governments should be doing is reviewing all the things that the Americans had done around the world to turn the feelings of so many against them. That would not be such a difficult task but that would be admitting to facts and there would be the ensuing feelings of guilt. But, Americans should never feel guilty. They believe in the right, but their right is simply might. America will be brought to its knees by individual terrorists even as today there is fear and that fear is being met by security measures that are costing the American public “big bucks” with no end in sight. Security is a big business. As in most business ventures, some individuals profit and live the “good life”, they eat, drink, and are quite merry, living their lives in luxury while many millions of people around the world go homeless, are hungry and lack in medical care; they suffer.

Lest we forget, where were the Americans in 1939 when many nations of the world were involved in warfare to defeat Hitler and his associates?

I would like to think that Americans in general are good and kind people. Americans are really friendly.  I have many American friends and I like them very much. So what is the problem? Can Americans really believe what their President has to say?  

We now learn about the earlier justification for the war in Iraq. Many untruths were told. Even without the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, it is said that there was a plan in place to attack Iraq. Could it be that there are war games on paper? I can see that for any country that might become an enemy there is a “war plan” and that includes Canada.

America has the might but does that give it the right to impose its will on many foreign countries? Might there be a plan in place to attack Iran? Is the American government preparing the people psychologically to accept a war there?

The Americans supported Israel in its “stupid” war against the people of Lebanon. Their justification was that two soldiers had been kidnapped by the Hezbollah and they wanted them back They had hoped to teach a lesson to one and all. But Israel learned the lesson and the Americans did too.

Now I wonder about those two soldiers. Were they really captured? Are they still alive? Is it possible that all that we have learned are lies and fabrications? Is it possible that this possible fabrication was a set-up for the “war”? This is stuff for a novel and the questions are perhaps not worthy of being written for this blog but I did get something off my chest and perhaps, just perhaps, there will be some reaction.

It is now recognized that all the heavy equipment, planes, bombs and military personnel can’t defeat terrorists on their own soil. There are lessons to be learned from American involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan and from the recent Israeli war.

So there is no poem today, just words reflecting feelings that I have today that I did not have five years ago. But there was a poem yesterday that might be read.

Five years from now, if I am still alive and you are as well my dear reader, I hope to write a poem for you.