Amiram Hayardeny's My China Experience

Flags at Half Staff - Remembering September 11

I was sitting in my office in Haifa.  It was late afternoon in Israel, and I was preparing for the daily conference call with my peers in Arizona.  Gilad Sharaby, a colleague, walked into my office and he was as pale as a ghost.  He said: "an airplane flew into one of the World Trade Center buildings".  I must have made some kind of sound, because he repeated what he just said.  I lived in the New York metropolitan area for many years, and  so did he.  We both knew the buildings, we both knew the magnitude of the sentence that just came out of his mouth.  At that point, I clearly remember, we didn't even think that this was the result of an act of terrorism.  We thought it must have been an accident.  We rushed to the Gym downstairs, where a couple of dozen people were staring quietly at the few CNN screens which were broadcasting live from New York City.  I'm not sure when we learned that the other building has been hit as well, and I'm drawing a blank on who was in the room besides Gilad.  I do remember though, that I went into a strange, long and frantic speech on how the buildings are fortified with metal columns, and that there's no way that they will collapse.  In fact, I was in the middle of that very intelligent speech, when the first building collapsed, and shortly after that, the other.  It was (and still is) a defining moment.

I can't swear that my recollection of that evening is accurate.  I clearly remember that I willingly submitted myself to hours, days and weeks of CNN.  The search and rescue operation that turned into a search operation.  The names, the pictures of the dead, the heroic stories of the survivors.  In following weeks the human side subsided, and in its stead the colossal failure of intelligence, the absence of any armed fighter aircraft along the eastern seaboard of the US, the vulnerability of air travel.  Finally, the recognition of the enemy, and the big question: what's next?  There were other occasions that caused me to succumb to this kind of news freak behavior: The Gulf Wars, The Tsunami, Oklahoma City.  For the next few months, my life became work, and hours of CNN news analysis.

As an American I felt immense sorrow, for the lost lives, and for the monument that's been brought down, literally and figuratively speaking.  America was the stronghold of freedom and democracy, it still is in many ways.  But at that time, it felt that something has been shattered.  As an Israeli, I suddenly saw a light at the end of the tunnel.  I thought to myself: "now the entire world will understand Islamic Fundamentalism, and will cooperate in eliminating it".  That night, if asked I would say that America will never give in to terrorism.  America will fight back, will pursue its attackers and will eventually win.  Many scenarios came to mind, none had materialized.

What is terrorism, and how does one give in to it?  The answers are different and many.  Mine is simple.  Terrorism is random violence, at random times against random victims, which causes you to be afraid (terrorized) all the time, because you never know if "now" is the right time and whether "here" is the wrong place.  In other words, if you think that since you are "good", and supportive of the "freedom fighters'" cause, and if you don't hang out with the "wrong" crowd, in the "wrong" places then you are safe, think again.  If you start differentiating between "good" terrorists (the "freedom fighters who are after someone else), and the bad ones (the ones that are after you), then you have better chances to win, forget it.  And how do you give in to it?  Simple: you change your life and your life style.  You start hiring hundreds of thousands of people to stand at airports and open all bags, and confiscate nail clippers and lighters.  You take "measures" against terrorism that come down to "sir, you can't take this body lotion/perfume/after shave aboard the aircraft, we will have to confiscate it".  You deny good people access to your country, because you're afraid that bad ones will come along.  You make it difficult to obtain a visa, and you make a business travel a nightmare. You become paranoid.  You always look over your shoulder.  And once this behavior is set in motion, the terrorists don't actually have to do anything anymore.

America and much of the Western World have been under a terrorist attack every single day since 2001.  The terrorists don't do much anymore.  They are in hiding in some remote mountain range somewhere in Afghanistan.  All they do is send occasional reminders that they are still alive and well and plotting.  They generate conversation on where they are and what color their beard is now compared to the last tape they sent in through some television station.  But this is what terrorism all about: you don't know when, where and how it's going to strike. 

When I was growing up, I had a "not-so-nice" neighbor with a dog.  The neighbor was really cruel to the dog, and when he thought that nobody was watching, he would smack the dog real hard.  The dog became so paranoid, that a simple look could send it running up the street screaming and barking.  Soon enough it bit an innocent little kid, and was put to sleep.  In other words, scheduled, targeted violence are easier to deal with because there's respite, and because you can learn to avoid it or minimize the consequences.  No respite in random violence.  Terrorism waits for you everywhere: at home and in the street, at the airport and aboard airplanes.  It might not come, but the expectation of it may cause you to change your life style.

The interesting part is that the so-called "superior" Western World honestly thinks that if a Western Style Democracy is bestowed upon those terrorist growing countries, then it will all go away and everybody will build homes with white picket fences and rose bushes.  But this is so narrow minded and limited thinking, and it all stems from the complete misunderstanding of different cultures.  Some cultures sanctify life.  But some actually sanctify death.  In places and cultures where there is no fear of death, Western Style Democracy is a very humorous idea.  It's laughable.  Another thought.  Many think that if we give terrorists what they want (country, recognition, money), then they will let us live quietly.  Wrong again.  They want a lot more.  Someone recently made it very clear: "Convert or Die".  This was no Freudian Slip, nor was it an error or figure or speech.  It was literal, true, and dead serious.

But the sky is still blue, and the sun is still shining.  And there's hope all around.  You just need to look in the right place.

Posted at 10:56AM Sep 12, 2007 by Amiram Hayardeny in Personal  |  Comments[0]