The Damage Done on Sept. 11th

On yet another anniversary of the tragedy on Sept. 11th, humanity has much to reflect on its aftermath. That fateful day which will live in infamy,  terrorists who attacked America did not bring down only the New York’s World Trade Center towers. On that day, the prospects of peace in a world which had seen the end of the cold war era and collapse of communism,  crumbled like the Towers’ beams. On that day the Middle East conflict graduated from its regional status to a global one with far reaching consequences. Thousands of lives have been lost in wars and terrorist attacks without remarkable improvements to any of the people involved. In the end the aftermath of 9/11 comes at a huge cost paid not only by those who have lost their lives, but by all of us as governments around the world have restrained freedoms (spying  on us, torturing and jailing individuals without due process) and wasted billions of dollars in the name of security. Most important of all, we are left with the huge opportunity cost of not being able to shift, after the end of the cold war, the world’s minds and resources to more vital challenges (poverty, child mortality, development, climate change, etc). The damage done on 9/11 is that our entire planet is still crumbling under the weight of yet more senseless wars and our species’ gift for continuously falling short of its potential.