Never Forget

 

By Megan Frost Babb (physician and mother):

“Nearly twenty years ago to the day, on a beautiful Thursday morning at 9am, my dad and I stood upon the World Trade Center looking down upon New York City. Just days later, that same building would be gone.

I remember the security guard who escorted us to the top. His name was Juan Ricco and he was a retired NYPD officer. He shared with me the history of the buildings and how proud he was to work there. We spoke about the bombing that had taken place nearly a decade before. A bomb that would explode while he was on duty. He went on to teach me a life lesson that would take almost two decades to be realized.

He said, “The scariest thing about terrorists is that they blend into society so seamlessly. A terrorist is not an enemy who wears a certain uniform or looks a certain way. They pretend to acclimate to the life of those around them, hiding in plain site, but are those whose beliefs uproot the very declarations that America stands upon. A terrorist is not defined by the country they were born to or the clothing they wear or the color of their skin. They are defined by the division they create.” As my dad and I stepped off the elevator he leaned in and said to me, “Sometimes terrorists look far less like those who we think they are and more like those who resemble ourselves.”

I think about Juan Ricco often and think about how it took me nearly twenty years to fully understand what he meant.

Simply, terrorists are any who stand in the way of progression, equality, equity. An individual who kills a woman for showing her face in the streets of her home land is a terrorist. An individual who kidnaps children to feed a militant, rogue militia group, is a terrorist. An individual who storms their nation’s capitol armed with guns with the intention to strong-arm a democracy that has spoken, is a terrorist. An individual who deepens oppression, in any capacity, is a terrorist.

Our failure to recognize a terrorist from an ally is the exact reason why America remains nothing more than a concept. An ideal that will only become true when our society learns how to properly identify the enemy and recognize that perhaps we ourselves may just be the exact thing we are trying to rid our world of.

My heart goes out to all who lost a loved one on that fateful day and to all who fell victim to the hate crimes that would follow right after.”

And as I saw posted elsewhere:

"2001 is a reminder that terrorists from outside can bring us together.

2021 is a reminder that terrorists from within can tear us apart."

Never. Forget.