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9/11/11: A Decade of Breakdown and Renewal
September 11, 2011 |
A decade ago, a 25 year old in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, I remember driving over the Manhattan bridge, seeing the smoke coming from the first tower, and thinking what idiot crashed some small plane into the World Trade Center.
In the hours and days that followed, I remember feeling the amazing shared sadness across New York City. It was both the worst of times and best of times, when our individual experience became shared across worlds.
What if we had chosen peace?
No where was this sense more prominent than in Union Square, where a memorial emerged and there were intense conversations about what our response should be as a nation. For that first week, I remember thinking, "What would be possible if the United States chose to take a deep breath and choose a non-violent response to this act of terror?"
Eli Pariser had started an email list called 9/11 Peace that gathered hundreds of thousands of email addresses of those calling for restraint and peace. Imagine a 21st century defined by such a profound choice inspired by Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Henry David Thoreau, and one of the original crew - Jesus of Nazereth.
Radiohead Idioteque: This is Really Happening
Of course, the Bush administration chose the more expected and less inspired path, which led a team of us to create the video below, inspired by the prophetic Radiohead song Idioteque, which we completed in November of 2001.
Now a decade later, reflecting on my time away from ground zero, having lived internationally in France, Singapore, and London, and now based in San Francisco, I still feel deeply connected the New Yorkers and others who have felt the impact of war over these years.
We Have Always Been at War, Our Time to Rise
Because I grew up without experiencing any violence towards me, I know it's naive for me to tell those impacted by war to choose peace. But the recent movements across the world, particularly the true non-violence leadership in Egypt, give me hope in the face of the institutional breakdown and extreme weather. I offer the song below as a tribute to those continuing to build.
The first inspiration for the song below came the night of 9/11, on the promenade in Brooklyn Heights, where I experienced New Yorkers singing together outside for the first time. Over the years, as I continued to listen to both old and new voices of those impacted by war, this song has continued to evolve and grow. This morning, on the tenth anniversary of that day, I put the finishing touches on the lyrics and finally discovered the name of the song, "Our Time to Rise."
For all of those who felt and continue to feel the sadness and loss that comes from acts of war and terror, and all of those who are building towards the dream of a world that chooses non violence, thank you and keep building.
Posted by Colin at September 11, 2011 9:52 PM
