Viewing 9/11 From Abroad: A Personal Perspective

It may have been a perfect way for an American to spend the fifth anniversary of 9/11: aboard a cruise ship on the Ionian Sea en route from Dubrovnik, Croatia, to Greece, and then Turkey. While the setting and travel are obvious reasons why, there are many others.

With few English language newspapers, no U.S. network television and far too many other pursuits to justify turning on CNN World, I was not subjected to what I have no doubt was saturation coverage leading up to and on September 11. I can picture every television network and the print media focusing on little else, encouraging my country to wallow in a sea of hand-wringing in the guise of commemoration. This is not to say commemoration is uncalled for. Rather, it seems as if the anniversary and what happened become a mask for a political vehicle or to lament what "they" did to "us." Yet not only have we failed to examine and address why 9/11 occurred, our actions over the last five years have encouraged the spread of anti-American feeling and rhetoric.

That is the saddest legacy to date of 9/11. The world sympathized and empathized with the United States in the immediate aftermath. The opportunities presented by that unusual period of good will might have been used in so many ways – building an international effort not only to combat terrorism but to address some of its root causes or motivating America to construct a sensible energy policy less dependent on foreign oil to name just two. Now, five years later, those chances have been squandered and instead we have a permanent war on terror and little love abroad for America, its policies or its citizens.

The international make-up of the passengers on this trip was also instructive. I would guess half or less were American. There were 600 from the U.K., together with significant numbers of Europeans, Canadians, Australians and Asians. None of the passengers I ate and toured with – whether British, Canadian or New Zealanders – ever mentioned the anniversary of 9/11. The closest they came were shared complaints about the recent increased security restrictions on what can be carried aboard airplanes. The only people who even referred to 9/11 per se are Americans, as if it, not our actions or policies, is the reason some were concerned traveling abroad.

Article Author: Tim Gebhart

Tim Gebhart lives in Sioux Falls, SD, where he practices law in order to provide shelter for his family, his dogs, and his books. He is a member of the National Book Critics Circle and his blog de guerre is A Progressive on the Prairie.

Visit Tim Gebhart's author page — Tim Gebhart's Blog