Is it my imagination or does there seem to be a lot of events scheduled for September 11? I’m not suggesting that we should avoid scheduling anything on that day, but there seems to be a lot going on this year on 9-11. Maybe its just because it’s a Saturday this year. Maybe my awareness of that day is elevated above other days and it stands out more when looking through a calendar of events. I’m not quite sure why, but it seems that there is an unusually high number of events happening on September 11.
Do you have plans for 9-11 this year? Has it become just another day to you now that we are 9 years removed from the biggest terrorist attack on US soil? I don’t think I know anyone who doesn’t remember where they were when they heard the news. Few other moments in history have been ingrained in the memory of a generation like that. I’ve heard older generations talk about when JFK was shot or when we landed on the moon. I expect that our generation will be telling our grand-kids about the time we saw terrorists fly airplanes into the World Trade Center and Pentagon and we’ll remember the passengers that fought back on flight 93.
I don’t think I’ll ever look at that date the same. Anytime I hear “September 11” or “9-11” my mind immediately goes to 2001, hearing the news at the end of chapel at Geneva College and then watching the news the rest of the day in the lounge of Clark Hall. What does “9-11” bring to your mind?
nice post. thanks.
September 11th is my daughters birthday, so that significance usually outweighs any other. She was born two years before the fateful events in 2001, so the stigma of having a 9/11 birthday is a couple of years removed for her.
Does it seem that some of the 9/11 events seem to be “forced”. What I mean is that the actual meaning for “Patriot Day” seems to be lost on most Americans. The same is true for Memorial Day and Independence Day. What is so amazing is that 9/11, while a recent rallying point for political purposes, was whitewashed with political correctness, ignorance and apathy years ago.
I think we’d have a problem if you’re daughter’s birthday wasn’t more significant to you than every thing else on September 11.
I agree that the true meaning behind most things is lost on most Americans. It seems to be the cultural norm in America to “care about everything” yet not really care at all. We could go into a discussion on how absolute truths have been manipulated into simple opinions of others by many Americans and the affect that has on everything from how our courts operate to what our kids are taught in school. We’ll save that for another blog post though.
Thanks for the reply Don.