Don’t forget

I was sickened and heartbroken to open the IDS on Friday, Sept. 11.

The most historically significant moment since Dec. 7, 1941, received at best negligible and at worst non-existent coverage of the attacks eight years prior.

While the article regarding the effects of the attacks on Muslim life in America is perfectly legitimate, the lack of coverage regarding the rest of America is appallingly irresponsible.

Nearly 3,000 Americans were instantly taken from this world.

Three hundred million Americans watched in fear, anxiety and despair. The entire world changed on a dime from a place of security and prosperity to uncertainty and danger.

Last year, I attended a candlelight vigil. The joint venture held by the College Democrats and the College Republicans was a small, humble event where students from both groups spoke about their experiences and impressions of that day.

When I invited one of my friends to come, he incredulously answered, “Why would I waste my time? It was seven years ago.”

This blatantly ignorant viewpoint is the precise reason why we will again be vulnerable to such an attack. Some argue that losing 3,000 people out of 300 million is statistically insignificant. 

This transcends numbers – this was an attack on our way of life. 

This was an attack on equal rights for women, and all of different ethnic and racial backgrounds; an attack on religious freedom; an attack on an economic system that has allowed our parents and grandparents to provide us with a comfortable life.

This is a timeless fight and will not disappear after seven, 70, or 700 years.

This attack was not borne out of America’s bigotry or fault; rather, it was a handful of radical extremists who shamed their religion by committing unfathomable atrocities.
From time to time, I encounter a pin or a graphic with the Twin Towers and the phrase “We Will Never Forget.”

As evidenced so plainly by the IDS, too many of us already have.

Ryan Short
IU junior