Lets us dress for the occasion-09/11,07/07,11/03 and everything else

September 11th 2001 08:46 am – 10:28 am New York time.

The world changed.
The way we view and experience one another has lots its charm and excitement.
The smell, like memories still linger.
A fear is now, all pervasive.

So much has been written and even more has been said about 09/11 and also 07/07 in London and 11/03 in Madrid; those 4-digit word/symbol/icon that have come to symbolise that change in the way we see the world.
I will not attempt to add to that mountain of pain, the lake of tears or the furnace of hatred and revenge that have come to be associated with the remembrance of those days. My emotions are my own and inside me,they will stay.

My concern is for the future.
It seems so far away from what we had hoped and planned for.
Our government and leaders on both sides, selectively blind to the predicted consequences of a few wise politicians, led us to war.
Iraq, a war not needed, and not really finished despite troop withdrawal. The loss on all sides and the destruction of the country will have repercussions we are yet to think and experience.
Afghanistan, an ongoing war and the battleground of the world for generations, has a fragile hope and similarly to Iraq will be part of our future, the influence on which we can barely dare to imagine.
And the damage here in the UK, in the USA and also around the world-a damage greater that just the loss of lives, as important as that is to all of the affected families and us.

As we move into the future, for some people, emotions and memories are solidifying into dogma.
A powerful cocktail of hatred, revenge and nationalism is being mixed.
I am not sure whether it can be stopped.

All I wish for is that we dress appropriately for the occasion every year from now on.
To mark the events in New York and the losses of all lives in Iraq, Afghanistan, London, Madrid and the lives of those, whose path in life led them to cause so much damage to the essence of the human spirit; I ask you to dress yourselves appropriately every year, in all ceremonies.

Dress yourselves ,not in national flags, books of religion or wrapped head to toe in cultural or clan markings.
Do not wrap yourselves in vengeance and fanaticism.
Let your badge not declare your politics or philosophy.
Leave them all behind, just for once.
Let us try,for a brief moment, to capture all that those things that these events and wars have taken away from us.

Just dress yourselves in the garment of humanity.
Just for once.
Every year.
Please.