9/11 and the public sphere

The most enduring images of 9/11 are of firefighters and other rescue personnel, covered in dust and debris, emerging from destroyed buildings. Since 9/11, I think it's fair to say that rescue workers--firefighters, police, EMTs--have gained newfound respect from Americans.

I think it's also fair to say that, following both 9/11 and, now, Katrina, America is rediscovering the importance of community, of the public sphere. We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.

Our sense of "hanging together" may mean government-provided services at the national, state, or city level, or volunteerism and local community efforts. But I think, I hope, we are realizing anew that America is not, or not only, a nation of discrete atomized individuals, each pursuing their own personal advancement; it is also a collective society, one in which private interests and public interests overlap and reinforce one another.

If we can remember this, remember that the "family" and the "village" are not mutually exclusive, that my rights and yours do not need to cancel each other out, that the interests of mothers and children are not at odds, then I think we will become a better society. I hope that as the arc of history bends towards justice more of us will change our lives to look outward, to form alliances and friendships, to consider the needs of others, including those who are very different from ourselves. That we will develop empathy.

Here's a "Call to Arms" that is really, I think, a call to join arms. Not to fight amongst ourselves, but to work together towards a more just society, one that promotes the general welfare for ourselves and our posterity, one that provides for common needs, one that establishes justice, ensures tranquility, and reminds us that "We the people" includes us all.