20 Years Later

20 years ago we joined arms, our grievances against one another at least temporarily camouflaged in shouts of USA, USA. Our eyes filled with the sight of the disintegration of the twin towers. The certainty of tomorrow lying in smoldering rubble on the streets of NYC.

Today, two decades later, we are still waged in a struggle to the death. Only today the enemy hides in plain sight. Today the enemy is us. 

Today our streets are flooded, our forests are on fire, our hospitals are overwhelmed and our morgues are overflowing. Today our freedom to vote is in jeopardy and a woman's freedom to choose is unraveling. Today prejudices and hatreds are worn with pride, not hidden in the shadows. Today we have taken up our cause in an uncivil war, our enmity for each other the very air we breathe.

Today millions challenge the assertion that a mask is not a symbol of oppression, but a shield, that a vaccine is not a punishment, but a savior. Today, as we stagger under the reality not of nearly 3000 lost on a horrific day, but over 600,000 gone in an ongoing torture that has haunted us for 18 months, today we stand not locked in arms but in battle.

20 years has taught us more about our own failings than we could ever have imagined when we watched in horror on the morning the blue sky disappeared in a cloud of death.

20 years later we have been unmasked. And what has been revealed is the ugly truth about ourselves.