Today's the Day

After a long wait and a lot of putting off, I've finally decided to post that pesky update on The September 12 Project. The project began on April 9, 2005, and since then I have received an oh-so-stunning total of 1 response. To my supporter: you know who you are, and I thank you kindly!

The question I pose as the launching point of the project is: "On September 12, 2001, what did you want the world to be?" I left the question very open-ended and vague, not wanting to limit responses to a particular framework or topic. From the feedback I have received on the project, however, it seems that the question is a bit overwhelming.

In an effort to inspire a greater response, I am going to share a few of my ideas, the general topics that ran through my mind on September 12 and the following few weeks. To begin, it's only fair that I expose the most fundamental question in my project:

"What is peace?" As a general rule, peace is defined only negatively, the absence of war, the absence of violence, the absence of tension, hatred and animosity. Unfortunately, we seem to only have an idea of what peace is not. I'd like to establish some idea of what peace is, what conditions constitute peace, and how one might identify a partial or whole state of peace.

Feel free to comment directly on the question of peace, to let your answer address the question indirectly, or to ignore the question entirely.

And now, a list of questions that I hope do absolutely nothing to narrow your thinking, but do inspire your minds, pens, or keyboards.

• What type of reaction did you hope for (from peers, communities, families, political representatives, other countries, religious leaders at the community and international level, etc)?


• What type of reaction did you fear (from peers, communities, families, political representatives, other countries, religious leaders at the community and international level, etc)?


• What was your greatest concern? (environment, censorship, travel, security, trade, war, foreign aid, intolerance, politics, economics, etc)


• Did you hope the events of September 11 would inspire change? If so, what changes did you hope for?


• Did you hope that the events of September 11 would change nothing? If so, why?

To include a personal response in The September 12 Project:

• post your personal response in the comments section
OR

• e-mail september12project@yahoo.ca

And please, please, please, please, please, share this with your friends, family, and mortal enemies.

Thank you,

Sarah