Let’s hope that the current generation will learn from our mistakes!
I agree; I wouldn't much care for someone leaning on that position either — seems too easy to use it as a crutch to avoid taking any steps forward, as a way of tossing one's hands upwards and otherwise saying, "Welp, we'll just have to wait until the next group fixes it." The intent of the reflection in this comic, though, both in dialogue and as supported by the title, is to speak to the decisions and actions people do take. Our past is filled with the decisions people made in their 'today'. I can look back at the time of the American civil rights movement or the abolishment of slave trades, and I can appreciate that there were those folks who stood and made their choices to do what they could, because I am now down the line of those choices and am blessed to see their worth.
I believe humans have always been very human, and I don't think this is going to change of our own volition. Our time here on this Earth will consistently find us up against greed and corruption and cruelty. But I also have hope. Not naively in some utopia of human creation, but in part that no matter what terrible things each generation faces (and brings upon themselves and upon this planet), there will continue to be folks who stand in opposition to the darkness in the ways that they can. That fella up there in this box concluded with the phrase, "Let's roll," which was made famous as the final known words of a passenger in the 9/11 flight that was crashed into the field after the folks on board fought back. It was a call to action then, not of some military endeavor but something deeper, and it's echoed here again in the same light on this anniversary — as encouragement and motivation to strive against whatever current struggles we are facing.
If you still don't appreciate this view or the comic, or feel I failed to express the former correctly in the latter, fair enough and no worries, Internet Stranger. I just caught your reply and thought I'd take a moment to clarify my aim :)
It was a very surreal time. I live in southern CA, at the time near enough to a nuclear power plant and military base that in the initial uncertainties I either felt much safer or much LESS safe, depending on the moment.
I was a young adult, out of high school and working at a Blockbuster (yep). I cried at the tragic loss of people I never knew, again after the shock of the Falling Man photo showed up in our local newspaper, kept my TV tuned to the news for days because I too wanted to know answers to all of your questions, but I will always remember the stark difference in the tone of what movies people came in to rent. Families came in to get away from the non-stop news on TV, yes, but across the board our comedies and escapist movies were the heavy draw. I suppose, even 25 years later, there's still a catharsis in remembering those odd little details like that.