Opinion: Remembering September 11, 2001 Gary Wolcott, Weekly Industry News Editor

This Friday marks 25 years since extremists flew two jet airliners into the World Trade Center and set off this nation’s war on terror. Where were you when you first heard of the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001?

I was living in Arlington, Washington, on a sabbatical and working on a contract basis as a movie critic for the Tri-Cities, Washington’s Tri-City Herald. The night before I’d gone, on September 10th I went to a critic’s screening of the movie Hard Ball.

I had to write my review of the film on September 11th.

How do you write a movie review on a day filled with so much horror? On the grand scale of things important, movies really don’t matter.

In the case of the movie, Hard Ball, maybe it does. Based on a true story, Hard Ball cast Keanu Reeves as a substance abusing gambling addict forced to pay off his debts by coaching a little league team of ghetto kids. In ghettos of the early 2000s and before, fathers leave and never come back, and nights are spent lying on the floor for fear of being hit by flying bullets from drive-by shootings.

The coaching job changed Reeves’ character’s life forever. He realized there was something deeper and more profound to life than his petty problems. There were people living close by who had no hope and not much going their way in the future.

My thoughts as I reviewed the film thrust me back to the week before when I received several angry letters from readers upset at my take on a different movie. As a film critic — and even as an editor of a publication such as this one — you are a target. Criticize the wrong subject, the wrong movie, or make the wrong observation and — POW — people pounce.

Most often the criticism is petty.

That was my take on Hard Ball. While people were sending reams of hate filled letters to the editor of my newspaper, the people living next door to them were hungry, or hurting, or in dire need of help. With that in mind, and using parts of my original movie review, this is what I wrote on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

We live in a very complex world. Our nation is facing issues and problems that are staggering. What's really scary is that we, the citizens of this great country, have no response to them. Our modus operandi is to pretend they don't exist. Maybe if we stick our heads deep enough into the sand, or our smartphone, they will go away completely.

This is real life and they won't. So if we are to solve these almost overwhelming social, political, economic and environmental issues it’s going to take committed individuals willing to instigate change and see the struggle through to the end.

Alas, people willing to do that aren’t going to get much help. Instead of acting on critical issues most of us sit at home, bury our noses in the boob tube, or our online devices, and other mindless activities, and complain about the state of the world. And we write scathing letters to a movie critic on what is right or wrong with a review while truly important issues are ignored or —even worse — not noticed at all.

In real life the selfless attitude acquired by Keanu Reeves’ character in Hard Ball mattered to 10 children. He gave them hope, a reason to live and grow, and the courage to strive for something better than the dead-end of a ghetto.

So how does this connect to 9/11 and to today?

In the aftermath of the attacks the citizens of this country responded by attaching flags to their houses and automobiles. Flags went up in businesses, at schools and on government buildings. Politics were set aside. Religious differences were set aside. Nationality was set aside.

We became patriotic. We were one as a nation.

It didn’t last. Billions of war dollars and a decade later, the nation is more divided than ever. Militarily we are the mightiest nation on the planet. Yet as a people we may be among the weakest.

What happened?

We waved our flags for a short time and then quickly forgot that we are one people. That, and what, we forgot has never been more noticeable than it is today. From the federal government on down we are polarized and paralyzed.

The nation faces another economic meltdown. Jobs are dwindling and unemployment — while holding steady at the moment — is very high. Too high. The national debt and deficits are growing and solutions to the problems seem more political than practical.

Party politics rule over common sense, party politics top the needs of people and all decisions seem to be based on the next election. This faction or that pits us one against the other.

Rich verses poor. The haves verses the have nots. This race or ethnicity against another.

We are no longer Americans. We are white or Latino or African American or whatever. Our focus is our group, our well being, our future. We have forgotten what makes a nation strong is continuing to talk to the neighbor you never knew before that September 11th attack. It is remembering that we are all in this together and together we succeed, or together we will fail.

A nation’s real strength lies in the achievements of people like the characters in Hard Ball. While military might is important, the best weapon we have against terrorism, and against economic and social disaster is caring about our neighbors as we care about ourselves. It is individuals and groups understanding the need to put themselves aside for the good of others and the nation as a whole.

This is what made us a great nation and what made us strong.

People involved in the community, in government, schools and charitable programs are what make us unconquerable. These are the weapons that we need to deploy to defeat the social and economic disaster facing us today, and to ultimately defeat the terrorism that still threatens us.

We are a weak nation today because we complain about our government, our economy and our schools but we know more about our favorite TV programs than we do about how our government works and who represents us in that government.

We elect people from 30-second video and sound bites, and really know nothing about them or — if they are in office — what they are doing or not doing. And that statement is not about specific candidates or specific political parties. It encompasses the whole system.

On September 11, 2001 I reviewed a movie. Thoughts from that movie and the events I watched unfold on that long and terrible day forever changed my view of this nation. I noted how together we were on that day and for a few weeks after.

For that brief moment in time we were united as one.

Today, 10-years later, I long for that moment to return. And like many of you, I fear if it doesn’t return there is no hope for what is and can continue to be, the greatest nation on the planet.

Did this hit a nerve? This editorial was written 15 years ago and published in Weekly Industry News. Many of the themes posted at that time are relevant today. We are a very divided people.

Or are we?

In my opinion, most of the division we see today is initiated by the two political parties. One is pitted against another using themes of this group or that is out to get what is yours. Follow us and we’ll save you and lead you into the promise land.

It’s my belief that average citizens, two conservatives and two liberals, could sit down and agree on most issues facing this nation today. And the places where they can’t reach agreement, these four people would find a satisfactory compromise.

Our politicians ought to be able to do the same thing but don’t — or won’t — because of the reasons listed earlier. The party and power tends to be more important than the people.

While this analysis is a bit broad, hopefully, you get the point. And that leads me back to the opening paragraph. Where were you on 9/11? How did it change your life and your opinion of this country, its people and its leadership.

Send your comments to Weekly Industry News Editor Gary Wolcott at garywolcott@piawest.com.