Two decades ago our world changed

Two decades ago this month on 9-11, our country – America – changed.  What had been a free-flowing country concerned with freedom, privacy and individual rights, is now a country where those kinds of activities have been shunted aside in favor of security.

The events of 9-11, changed police and law enforcement agencies around the country.  Officer Friendly was replaced with those more concerned with security.  it was helped by a federal government which called upon the neighborhood police officer to become a militarized supporter of anti-terrorism.  Blue and brown uniforms were replaced with all black uniforms.  Weapons now carried looked as though the officer was going off to fight some foreign war, instead of providing security in the neighborhood.

Where once we had open access to our civic buildings, we now find them surrounded by fences often topped with barbed wire.  And, security systems at every entrance point which the average citizen must transverse if he/she wishes to speak to a public official.

And every employee, in every government office, must now wear the ID which is often hanging from a cord around the neck.

As school started this week I realized that none of our students know what the world was like before this country determined that it was a dangerous world and that danger permeated every aspect of our life.  They now know that gates, barbed wire and police carrying military style weapons is a normal part of life.  I’m happy for them and for their innocence.

But, I mourn our loss of freedom, our lack of respect for our government and its institutions and the support we once had for individual liberties.