I have been logging time crying lately.

Not actual tears falling from the ducts, but emotionally weeping. This is not new to my world, for since a bright-blue Tuesday morning in September twenty-four years ago, as each late summer approaches, I am left with a torn and bruised soul. The month of September is bittersweet; it is a time full of joy and sorrow. The first few days are full of delight and love as the next anniversary of the blessed birth of my youngest child dawns early in the month, and then a spiritual funk inevitably begins to take over. Each year, as we approach the eleventh day, my thoughts and emotions drift back to that day when a dastardly evil crawled out of its corner of Hell and came to the shores of my beloved America. On that morning, the world watched as thousands of innocent people were murdered at the hands of demons using peaceful, graceful machines of the air as their heinous tools. Over the years, I have written about it several times, attempting to find answers and some sense of closure to that unspeakable madness…sadly, mostly to little or no avail.

This year, after north of eight thousand sunrises, I am sad to say that my soul weeps more than ever. The sage advice that “time heals all wounds” can be accurate, but those words fall short in the context of this human tragedy. This year, the pain of what has become known as the “9-11 Anniversary” was made worse by more evidence that whatever lessons mankind may have learned from that painful morning seem to have faded. Evil continues to have an address within the human heart and thus the source of my words.

People have always used language to influence others. Words are powerful, very powerful. They have changed the course of countries, populations, and even mankind. They can be beautiful, uplifting, and steer the human heart toward greatness. The likes of “We hold these truths to be self-evident,” “Four score and seven years ago,” “Ask not what your country can do for you,” “I have a dream,” and “Give peace a chance” will live through time as some of our finest linguistic moments. Sadly, we have seen the opposite; Stalin uttered, “The death of one man is tragic, the death of thousands is a statistic,” Mao hissed, “Morality begins at the point of a gun.” Himmler warned, “The best political weapon is the weapon of terror.” Yes, words can be beautiful, and they can be worse than horrible.

But why the bruised soul? Why the internal weeping?

Again, this past week, we as a collection of humans witnessed more of the depravity that “9-11” displayed to us all those years ago. Our “advancements” in technology now allow for millions to watch death and suffering as never before. In past weeks, a video surfaced that depicted a man being repeatedly shot in the back as he walked down a New York sidewalk. Early last week, we saw an innocent young woman be savagely murdered on a subway train as others appeared to be uninterested, and a few days ago, the world witnessed a man being killed by an assassin while debating his thoughts in the public square. All three of these humans woke that morning, went about their day as planned with no inkling that they had seen their final sunrise and that they would all horribly die as the rest of us watched on screens small and large. They were tragic events that displayed the very worst that an evil heart can conjure, but the story grows worse. In at least two of these tragic stories, sick, twisted, hate-infected people found these acts not only justified but a reason for rejoicing. Yes, I used the word rejoice. Not recoil in horror, not wince in moral repugnance, but somehow felt it was time to descend and devolve into something I am not sure my humanity can comprehend. They danced with evil, and it sickens me.

Sadly, history is rife with such actions. The murder at Ford’s Theater was celebrated by those few still loyal to the Southern cause, horrible people far from Dealey Plaza smiled as a nation lay stunned, and horrific bigots grinned and shook hands as a great man bled to death on a Memphis balcony. Again, my heart is shattered to think that “motivated murderers” are celebrated as death came to a man on the cold pavement of a city sidewalk and under a warm canvas tent in Utah. What is so broken within these people that it would allow them to feel such things? What can possibly live in their heart to think that taking the life of someone you have a social disagreement with (political or otherwise) is somehow “O.K,” or “justified,” or even…I shudder to think… “noble?”

I am certain I do not possess the insight or intellect to answer.

This begs the question, “Why?” Why would a group of our fellow humans do something so dark? Not the murdering of another person, that is the subject of another piece altogether, but how could someone that we may know and consider a “normal” person find a place in their heart to find joy in such a disgustingly non-normal event?

The only answer that continues to rattle within this head is one thing: “Words.”

As mentioned above, words are powerful. Words do matter.

We are continually fed a diet of horrific monikers spewed toward a group (or groups) that we do not share the identical worldview with. Terms like: “Fascist,” “Bigot,” “White Supremist,” “Homophobe,” “Hate Monger,” “Existential threat to our Democracy,” and of course, the grandaddy of them all…. comparing an individual to history’s most infamous person; “he is like Hitler.”

These words are intended to, and will spark powerful emotions in the purest of hearts, and using them to describe another person or linking them to an “idea” is at least horrific and at most deadly. Hearing these words directed at one person, organization, or idea ad nauseam for year after year has consequences, and we have recently (graphically) witnessed what those consequences look like. DO NOT for a moment muse that I exist in a “Pollyanna” world where I consider every person, every political leader, every corporation, every ideal to be wonderful and above reproach. Quite the opposite. I have scoured the “Warren Commission Report” and the “Pentagon Papers,” and have lived through the “It all depends on what IS…is” butchering of the truth. Free societies are messy, and our Republic is certainly not exempt. One of my historical heroes, Sir Winston Churchill (an imperfect human being, but perfect for his moment in time) said it best: “…democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others that have been tried.”

Which brings me back to that one thing: language.

Yes, words do matter; they can stir humans to greatness, and they can stir humans to hatred, but make no mistake, there are things that words cannot do. They cannot perform violent acts. Words are NOT violence; violence is violence. The wound from a knife blade, a 9mm pistol round or a 30 caliber rifle bullet are the violence, not words. But again, while words may not cause the wound, they can absolutely influence another person to cause it. Repeatedly referring to a certain group with disgusting invectives serves one thing; it dehumanizes that collection of humans, and in the end, invariably targets them for violence. National Socialism used words to convince millions that members of an ancient religion were dirty, horrible, disgusting, dishonest people (their term was “Untermensch” or “subhuman”). Their businesses and houses of worship were destroyed; they were shunned, physically assaulted, and within a decade were being herded onto boxcars to be systematically murdered. Why? Because of words.

Where do we find ourselves today? Have we in America spiraled into what some are referring to as an “assassination culture”? I will refrain from listing a “scorecard” of which political group physically attacks the other group more than the former, and vice versa. That is a fool’s errand, and although I do have an opinion regarding the ideology of which group leads in the macabre tally of hatred, destruction, and assault (to include killing), I will save that for another time and another discussion. I ask one simple thing…have we fallen so far from our humanity that we cannot ALL use our words to say it is WRONG, it is IMMORAL, and it must STOP?

Can we?

Sadly, I am not sure. A few days ago, I posed a similar question to a group of friends from my aviation past, and I was sadly left wondering if we can. Truth be told, these men were part of my early days in commercial aviation, and we cut our “pilot baby teeth” in the same cockpits of the crucible of “low altitude, bad weather, dangerous airplanes, onerous Company management”.  A comradeship developed that years of shared difficult situations will invariably produce. We leaned on each other in those days, and although I knew our lives diverged over the years, I assumed our values and “inner mettles” remained mostly constant. It seems I may have been wrong; I sincerely hope that I have not. When I posed the above question after the recent spate of violence (and a link to a video denouncing the sickness of killing as a means of disagreement), the response was something I did not expect. Either silence or polite refusal to offer an opinion. I pressed on (maybe unwisely).

I added: “If I ask the question, “can we all agree that murdering someone because their world views differ from another is a horrific thing…and that our Republic is better than that? Does that proffer an answer, or are we gonna take a pass on that too…” I added the word “Respect” and included a “saluting” image.

Again, most remained silent, a few declined to comment, and after pointing out that none responded to my question and offered that I believe we should all find the “core agreements on our humanity,” one became markedly upset and erupted with an angry, invective-infused response. Truth be told, the furious response did not wound as much as the deafening silence. It seems that the lack of words carries as much weight as the words themselves. I was immediately reminded of quotes from two very wise men,

“The only way for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing.” Sir Edmund Burke

and

“Indifference to me is the epitome of all evil.”
― Elie Wiesel

Ironically, the man who was publicly murdered while talking to students on a college campus has said, “When people stop talking, that’s when you get violence.” Disgustingly, almost before his corpse had cooled, the chant began that his words carried “hate,” for they did not align with a particular world set of viewpoints; fine, have your opinions, debate those opinions. I ask, however, did this now qualify him to fall into the category of “he got what he deserved”? Each person must peer into their heart and answer that question. If your answer is “NO,” then we agree that language is the tool to use when we disagree, not bullets. But, again, WE MUST not use the words that are designed to foster hate. Simply because a person disagrees with you does not mean they are a “Fascist”, or a “Homophobe”, or a “Hate Monger”…it only means they disagree with you. State your views sans hatred and listen to the response. The words this man spoke did not draw blood and stop a life, but the words used to inspire the man with the rifle most certainly did. If your answer is “YES, he did deserve what he got,” then we fundamentally disagree on the definition of what “humanity” and “moral” mean within your heart.

I will also add that the darkness of your avenue on the journey of life we are all taking should give you pause.

I love my country. I love the uniqueness of the ideals on which we were founded, and I thank God every day that I live in this amazing collection of states. When I need a reminder of our special uniqueness, I reach into my pocket, retrieve a coin and read the inscriptions;

“In God We Trust”

“E Pluribus Unum” (“From Many One”)

And,

“Liberty”

Soon, we will be approaching our two-and-a-half-century birthdate, and I pray each day that we can find a way to debate our ideas around the dinner table, in the “town square” (virtual and actual), and do so without using words that influence one human to visit violence and death upon another. I find the longer I witness human behavior, that while it is easy to love people, it can be difficult to not detest humanity as a whole. I pray that someday I may find reasons to alter those thoughts about humanity as a whole.

We need our words; it is one of the things that separates us from other life forms on this wonderful planet.

I offer these nine beautiful words in closing. If we might all pause and put them in our hearts, things might be different. They were spoken two centuries past, and they are as relevant today as the moment they left this man’s lips;

“I am the way, the truth, and the life”

God bless you all.

Love each other and let us live and let live (and keep talking).

’till next time,

BBall