Scott Bruun: September 11th – Fourteen Years On

Wednesday, September 09, 2015

Scott Bruun, GoLocalPDX MINDSETTER™

It’s hard to believe this Friday marks fourteen years since that fateful September day. The day the war came.

Each of us remembers where we were that Tuesday morning, how we mourned, how we feared. Each remembers and carries a scar. I remember watching the TV: shocked, angry and scared. Home that morning with a pregnant wife and a two year-old daughter. Wondering in what kind of world my children would grow up.

September 11th and its aftermath may be the most gut-wrenching experience of our lives, it is mine. The images of fire and smoke, dust and death, upon a pristine-blue New York skyline, are seared on our souls. Memories of National Guard F-15s flying over a pristine-blue Portland skyline.

Innocence not so much lost as ripped away. Our homeland attacked in a way that felt like an attack on our family, our children, while we stood helpless to intervene. America’s foundation shaken to its core.

Rising from the dust and death, though, was resolve and great heroism. The heroism of first responders, fire, police and our military.

The heroism of United Flight 93. Ordinary Americans who understood, who phoned home to say “I love you, goodbye.” Americans who collected their courage, said “let’s roll,” and determined their plane would not be a tool for terror.

September 11th does not define America, it never has. Then and now it defines our enemies; the enemies of humanity, tolerance and freedom. America, we pray, will always be defined by the greatness of soul demonstrated on Flight 93.

In considering that time, now fourteen years on, the positives are important. Our nation stood united. We relied on each other and we were not disappointed. We had a cause and a purpose greater than our individual selves.

Yet today, and here is the crux, we still face the challenges of a war that we could never lose, but also - given its nature - never quite win.

It’s this lack of a final victory, this lack of a black-and-white conclusion that makes 9/11 fester. Americans like clear victories and a final score, after all.

We’ve watched the world move from 9/11, al-Qaida, Iraq and Afghanistan; to Arab springs, red lines, Syria, ISIL and Iran. No final victories, just next challenges. This is draining. It screams vulnerability for some, fear for others, and it causes us to look for answers and support.

In war, appropriately, we look to government. But some of the perpetual war phenomenon has metastasized throughout our national fabric. In the years that followed 9/11, we saw serious financial and housing crises. We saw challenges in health care. We saw boardroom malfeasance, crony capitalism and union thuggery. We saw disasters, natural and man-made.

Today we still see much of this. We see changing climate conditions. We see changing demographics and an aging population. We see cultural and family erosion. We see lack of economic mobility, subpar education outcomes, continued poverty and growing disparities between haves and have-nots.

We see all of this and, as in war, we look to government for solutions. Ironically, even a growing dissatisfaction with government itself leads many, with fear and uncertainty, straight to government. Straight to government for all our challenges, and to ever-growing cynicism when government invariably falls short.

Fourteen years later, our autumn of war may have become our winter of discontent.

Yet as always, there is reason for optimism. The silver lining of September 11th is that it taught us how strong we truly are. How brave we can be in the face of danger. Steady in the face of uncertainty. It proved to us our resilience in the face of adversity. That we could be defiant in the face of evil.

That day, and the weeks and months that followed, taught us that our government can do well when it is not asked to do all. It taught us that we Americans do very well, and can do just about all, when we rely on proper foundations. Timeless foundations like family, community, faith, and limited government.

That day also taught us that we need a calling bigger than ourselves. We need a direction and compass. We need leadership that does better than simply polling and pandering. And we need a renewed confidence in ourselves and our purposes. These are the simple – and extraordinarily difficult – challenges before us.

Yet we can rise to the challenge, as we did on September 11th, by remembering this: It’s not about our county, right or wrong. It’s about our country, period. What’s right is all around – our families, our communities, our heritage. Our God.

And what’s wrong? What’s wrong, we take care of. With courage and resolve, with purpose and strength, we say “let’s roll” and we take care of what’s wrong. Just as we Americans always have.

Scott Bruun is a fifth-generation Oregonian and recovering politician. He lives with his family in the 'burbs', yet dutifully commutes to Portland every day where he earns his living in public affairs with Hubbell Communications.