Twenty years, has it been so long?
I remember that morning
all too well.
It was early here in our Pacific Northwest town
We were just rising
Getting ready for the day —
Turning on the news
Then …
My Husband called out
“Come out here, you have to see this”
As I reached the living room
And turned to the television
The second airplane
flew into the second tower
My … heart … stopped
For just a minute
Was this real
What was happening
I found I was crying
We watched the towers collapse
We heard a low flying aircraft
And ran outside to see
A fighter jet from Whidbey Air base passed over
I didn’t know whether to feel safe,
Or frighted.
Twenty years, long years
seems like yesterday
Twenty years, a lifetime for some
Twenty years of fighting in foreign countries
To many lives lost
US lives, Iraqi, Afghani lives lost
Twenty years of death
Of young men and woman
Lives gone,
Ruined,
Changed forever
Was it worth it?
Why must we always
Respond with weapons,
Hate, anger, torture,
imprisonment, and lies
… by those who said they would lead us?
Was it worth it?
Why did Guantanamo Bay have to happen?
Why did Abu Ghraib have to happen
Why the loss of limb and mind have to happen?
Was it worth it?
Can we not see that war only brings
More hate, more war, more torture,
More lives lost?
Can we not see that our
Young men and Young Women, of all nations
are worth more than cannon fodder?
Can we not see that war only teaches war?
Was it worth it?
Could we have responded differently?
Could we not have honored the dead of 9/11
by finding a different path?
Could we not have found a path that healed
rather than kept the wounds
open and festering?
In hindsight can we not see there
Was a different way forward?
Twenty Years since September 11, 2001
Yet, we haven’t learned anything from that day.
Was it all worth it?
Ruth Jewell, ©September 11, 2021
A Quiet Walk 