Under the baobab: A different America 20 years after 9/11

It is over.

After thousands of deaths and billions of dollars, the last U.S. combat troops have been withdrawn from Afghanistan. For some it’s ancient history. Seventy million Americans hadn’t yet been born when this war started in 2001. For others it’s recent tragedy.

I was in New York City on the morning of Sept. 11 where I met the transport van to go to the New Jersey set of the TV show, “ED” about a lawyer played by Tom Cavanaugh who ran a bowling alley. I played the judge. When the first plane hit the tower we were in the middle of a courtroom scene. Things forever changed. Our country had been viciously attacked. Most of the world sympathized with us. The French Prime Minister said, “Today, we are all Americans.”

Almost a year later I was a Fulbright Fellow teaching and directing in South Africa. It was before the invasion of Iraq. Most South Africans did not understand what effect the attack had on ordinary Americans. The U.S. Consul asked if I could write and perform a play that might shed some light. I wrote “9/11 A Day in the Life of a People” based on 12 life stories, real and imagined, of folks directly affected. Another Fulbrighter, an American student, Jo and myself performed the piece for an audience of foreign ambassadors, other dignitaries and local firefighters at the American School.

When I returned from Africa in the fall of 2003, 12 of us did a stage reading in the Penn State Downtown Theatre. “9/11 A Day in the Life...” was the first play publicly performed in the newly opened theater. It featured Jo Dumas, Patty Satalia, Wil Hutton, Susan Riddiford, and students from the school of theatre.

The play was performed on the anniversary of the attack every year until two years ago. Each performance was a sacred ritual. Afterward there would be audience discussions about what other people were doing on that day. The script evolved based on those stories. The play was invited to the Philly Fringe Festival. On the 10th anniversary the play was featured at the Constitution Center in Philadelphia. There were three performances at The State Theatre.

The show evolved as did the world around it. There was an invasion of Iraq and overthrow and execution Saddam Hussein, the assassination of Osama Bin Laden and hundreds of other terrorists. Homeland Security, which didn’t exist before 9/11, became the largest most pervasive agency of the executive branch. Some soldiers who died in this conflict were infants when it started. Some weren’t even born. Four different American presidents have presided over the War in Afghanistan. Only one had the political courage to call it quits.

We are a different people than we were 20 years ago. Most people were supportive of the invasion back then. Today 67% of the people support the withdrawal. No one really likes losing to the Taliban, including a significant number of the Afghanis. However, most people believe that like the British and Russians who lost wars in Afghanistan before us, and despite the media hysteria, it isn’t really our problem. Clearly, we don’t have all the answers to all the world’s problem. Besides, we have our own issues to deal with. This 9/11, 20 years after our world was turned upside down, it is perhaps time to begin to set it right.

We are going to get together one last time and tell the story of “A Day in the Life of a People.” To remember? Yes. To mourn? Yes. But primarily to honor the struggle of a people who, when knocked down, found a way to rise to their feet yet again.

Join us sisters and brothers, it really isn’t over. It’s actually just begun.