Some thoughts around September 11th LO27260

From: Vana Prewitt (vana@praxislearning.com)
Date: 09/24/01


Replying to LO27250 --

I have admittedly been inconsistent in my reading of LO messages the last
year, but was so happy to see Roy's name on the last digest. I'd lost him
for awhile, and like a true community, the LO list brought us back
together again. I truly appreciate his thoughts on the matter of 9/11.
What I find most interesting is the following passage from his musings...

((We have had a mixed debate so far in the UK about September 11th. In
the traditional grief cycle, we are at the "why" stage. What is it about
the USA and the west that angers one third of the world? And in crude
response mode, we want to attribute blame. We are also asking what the
similarities and differences are in September 2001 and 50, 40 and even 30
years ago. Someone has suggested scale and the deployment of modern
technologies. Others have suggested that it is no longer about nation
states, but whole races wanting change .. hence the internationalism of
recent events.))

I've heard the same conversation in many places during the last week, and
it is encouraging that Americans, in particular, are finally waking up to
the realization that what they do and how they live have far reaching and
lasting consequences. My countrymen have been innocent too long about
their role in globalization. I imagine the average American thinks of it
as something only politicians and big business are accountable to. Sept.
11 sent us a different message, and the amazing thing is, Americans are
paying attention.

What happened on the 11th was horrible, but I want to believe that we ~~
as global humans ~~ will be able to reach into the rubble and find the
goodness that can come out of this painful lesson. Wouldn't it be an
ironic gift if we could recraft our concept of self from nationalities to
global brotherhood?

Regards,

Vana Prewitt
Praxis Learning Systems
Chapel Hill, NC

-- 

Vana Prewitt <vana@praxislearning.com>

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