A comment I just posted to one of those 9-11 "Never Forget" editorials

[markpkessinger]

This is the text of a comment I just made to an editorial that appeared today in the Centre Dailiy Times. It was yet another, "Never Forget" pieces, which frankly I have had my fill of. Here is the comment I posted:

markpkessinger

I don't think anybody who was old enough to know what was going on at the time is in any danger of "forgetting" 9-11. I live in New York, and did at the time, so I know I certainly won't. But to insist that those who were too young to remember the event must conjure up the same raw emotions of horror, fear and grief is not only unnatural, but unhealthy. I don't have the same connection with Pearl Harbor that my parents did, because they lived through it and I didn't. The generation that was of age to remember that event is rapidly dying off. And while my generation may commemorate it for many years to come, the event will never have the kind of visceral connection that our parents' generation had. That is the way it is supposed to work. Events, from the greatest tragedies to the greatest triumphs, do -- and indeed, must -- fade into the mists of time.

It fitting and appropriate to remember those who died. But these annual commemorations have become morbid exercises in terror porn, in which we watch the videos and pictures of that horrible day over and over again, as broadcast networks air programs such as, "9-11 As It Happened." The nation might eventually heal from the wounds of 9-11, if only we would collectively stop ripping the wounds open before they have had time to heal.

Consider this: say you had a friend who lost a loved one -- a spouse, a child, a parent or sibling -- in a horrific automobile accident. By happenstance, there exists some surveillance video of the accident. Now imaging if this friend, on each anniversary of the accident, called other surviving family members together so they could all watch the surveillance video of the crash. I think most people would be seriously concerned about how that friend is coping, and might gently suggest to him that he look into counseling. Most of us would certainly recognize that behavior as an unhealthy fixation. And yet, collectively that is what we have been doing to ourselves, every year for twelve years now. It is time to move on. Moving on does not mean forgetting. But neither does it show any particular respect for those who died by remaining fixated on the the morbid details of their deaths.

Those of us who lived through that day have been indelibly marked by it. While it is fine to educate younger and future generations about the experience, we shouldn't expect them to bear the memory in the same way those of us who lived through it do. Future generations may well have their own burdens to bear -- they shouldn't be expected to carry ours as well.

[NYC_SKP]

1. I agree with what you wrote there.

I think it's a sign of the times, an era of ribbons and slogans and (to me) mostly empty and dramatic gestures that, in the end, teach us nothing.

Are we supposed to stay angry, vigilant, scared to death of terrorism, or what?

We move on, we don't forget but we don't live for the tragedies of the past.

[markpkessinger]

5. I think what disturbed me most about the editorial . . .

. . . was its last two sentences: "Time moves on. We cannot."

Ugh.

[Phillyindy]

2. 9-11 glorification baffle me.

[Summer Hathaway]

3. You and I have some very differing political opinions.

But in this instance, I agree with you wholeheartedly.

Congratulations on a very thoughtful, insightful, and well-written piece.

[markpkessinger]

4. Thank you . . .

. . . I really very much appreciate that, Summer!

[Summer Hathaway]

6. No, thank YOU.

I think you have rather eloquently stated what so many of us are feeling about these annual, media-generated displays of faux "remembrance", but perhaps lack your writing skills in setting those feelings out so succinctly.

If the MSM was interested in the perfect memorial to the 9/11 victims, they would devote EVERY September 11th to day-long coverage of the first responders and clean-up crews who are suffering from, or have died as a result of, their work on the scene - and the politicians and insurance companies who have denied compensation and adequate healthcare to those thus afflicted.

"Remembering the dead" rings rather hollow, when caring for the living who risked their own lives is not even a footnote in the retelling of the tale.

[dionysus]

7. we agree on something!

[SheilaT]

8. Thank you.

I am mightily bothered by the remembrances of that day, and I feel as if I can't say what I feel. I do know at least one person who died in the Twin Towers, so it's not as though I'm totally removed.

But the insistence of the media that we relive that day simply isn't useful.

Pearl Harbor was at least as bad, and yet there were not annual ceremonies every December 7th thereafter.

While I do respect the dead, there is something to be said about moving on. So long as we stay trapped in the cycle of remembering, remembering, never forgetting, we are doomed.