In searching for an appropriate home for this post I discovered two similar threads: elsewhere in IMHO cheddarsnax wonders “What am I supposed to ‘Never Forget’?” and in the Pit ParentalAdvisory started a thread called “9/11, We will never forget…” However, the other IMHO thread has been closed at the OP’s request, and, while the tone of the Pit thread has remained largely un-Pit-like, I’d like to preemptively reduce the potential for name-calling or swearing.
In this week’s New York Times Magazine, Walter Kirn has a short opinion piece called “Forget It?” where he comments on the seeming inconsistency of being encouraged to ‘return to normal’ immediately after 9/11 and now being told to ‘never forget’ the events of that day (as if anyone could, as both cheddarsnax and ParentalAdvisory note in their threads). He starts the piece by mentioning that a friend of his recently said to him, ‘‘I’m just so over 9/11,’’ and then writes, “it wouldn’t shock me if the attacks and their iconographic halos were soon the stuff of magazine ‘in-out’ lists. In: ‘Fahrenheit 9/11.’ Out: 9/11.”
Should we be “over” 9/11? Is it “out?” I tend to think that the answer to both questions is ‘yes.’ (And boy, do I feel a little heartless even typing that newly-formed opinion… )
I agree with those who would comment that 9/11 has become almost more commericalized than Christmas, that no one is in any danger of “forgetting” that which is worth remembering, and that we (Americans in general) need to finally stop picking at this scab. Specifically, I agree with the following part of Kirn’s conclusion:
Getting over 9/11 may be easier typed than done, but I think it’s time. More to the point, I think it’s time for people who have gotten over it – or who are well on their way – to stop feeling the guilt that Kirn mentions. I’m not intellectually tired of 9/11, I’m emotionally worn out. Three years is a long time to mourn. I want it to be ok that I forgot Saturday’s ‘other’ significance until late afternoon (I remembered that it was my cousin’s 5th birthday shortly after I woke up).
This past Saturday, I attended a football game at the University of Maryland. I tried making a bet with the fiance that the halftime show would consist of sentimental patriotism. She knew I was right, and wouldn’t take the bet. It was. We were both bored out of our minds by it. Looking around the stadium, we weren’t the only ones. Even if there are people that won’t admit to being “over” 9/11, they really are (or wish they could be).
I think we ruffled some feathers when, just prior to entering the stadium, we passed some people handing out white ribbons, something along the line of “NEVAR FORGETT!.” We refused to take them. Flat out denied these well-meaning schmucks to their faces. Honestly, it felt good.
Well, no and yes. I believe we should remember and honor those innocent people who died that day, especially those who died trying to rescue others.
However, if you’re a politician using 9-11 as excuse to further your own agenda, or to imply that your opponent is not a patriot, forget it. If you are using 9-11 as an excuse to hate every muslim, and you go around saying things like, “Nuke all them rag-heads,” then forget it. That does not honor the memory of the victims. That does not make the world a better place.
‘Never forget’ can easily become a thoughtless complacent mantra. It has the potential to also become politicised. My feeling is that much of the sentiment against such simplistic attitudes to the tragedy are the result of anger at the simplicity with which many people are happy to see (and many politicians are happy to portray) the ‘war’ on terror.
AskNott said what I was thinking far better than I could have worded it.
I am a New Yorker. I was a young child when the Towers were built. They were the view I had when I was not paying attention in class. The Plaza was where my friends and I goofed around after school. I lost a friend (the other just got out in time) in the attack. My Dad and my Sister, by God’s will alone, were not there that day when they normally would have been. I still feel a pang every time I see a movie or TV where they pan the NY skyline and the Towers are there. I don’t obsess over it. But, I will never forget it, either. And, I don’t reserve my remembering solely for September 11th.
I avoided downtown for a full year after the attack. Unfortunately, a friend and I were playing tour guide for some visitors and they insisted on going to Ground Zero (which “disappointed them because it simply looked like a construction site” - but that’s another rant). Don’t think I’m crazy. But want to know what bothered me first? The sun. I stepped out the Cortlandt St. subway station, turned left, and BAM got hit full face with the sun. My immediate reaction was “what the hell is that doing there?”
It amazes me just how fast some people did “get over it”. We have an office in MN and just over a week after the attack we were still having problems with our LD service. A girl from the MN office called in to complain and while I was trying to explain to her that quite recently a very large building collapsed on our co-locate she interrupted me with “Christ, are you people still going on about that?”
The politicians who use it to push an agenda disgust me. I feel that remembering should be a personal thing. You should remember if and when you want. I think this whole Patriot Day thing should go. Like, Only Mostly Dead, for instance. Perhaps you would have had your moment and moved on (or not), but instead you had it shoved down your throat. It would have annoyed the hell out of me.
Anyway - if any of you are still awake after reading this rambling. I’m going to stop now and go to bed…
I’m over it. I certainly remember, but I’m over it. I felt guilty about it (same way I felt when I knew I was “over” my best friend’s death - that took a little more time, though), but I had to get over that guilt, too.
I don’t like that it’s shoved in my face all the time. Everyone grieves in their own way. I can’t stop anyone from visiting a relative’s gravesite yearly on their birthday (or death day, or Mother’s Day, etc.), but I’m not going to, and I shouldn’t have to. Having my governor say that we should all observe silence at 7:46am? The people who chose to do that, great. Fine with me, whatever. But having a public official appear on the news to tell me to? Being “reminded” what happens on Saturday everyday for a week and a half? Hell, even people who were getting married this year (it’s the first time 9/11 (as opposed to September 11th) happened to fall on a Saturday, the most popular wedding day of the week, you know – local news anchor) had their claim to fame when the media showed up to their weddings. I’m sick of the whole thing.
I remember though. I always will.
On preview I actually do kind of feel like an asshole.
I am going to sound very cold and insensitive. I am over it.
There hasn’t been a day gone by that I haven’t been reminded about Sept. 11. I knew that during every football game last weekend, 9/11 would be dragged out again. I knew that every news station would have hours of 9/11 coverage. I’m tired of politicians telling us, “9/11 changed everything…”
I am over it. I’m tired of the terror warnings and travel hassles. I’m tired of the, “You never know…” warnings. I’m tired of having patriotism rammed down my throat at every event I go to.
I am personally over it. If I had lived in New York, my opinion might be different.
I don’t think it as much a matter of forgetting 9/11 as it is incorporating those events into our history, learning the lessons and then moving on. It is wrong on so many levels for politicians to use our emotions to advance their point spread.
LaChanze Sapp-Gooding plays Celie in The Color Purple which opening in Atlanta. She is the single mom of 2 young daughters whose father was killed in 9/11. She is currently living in Atlanta until the show moves to Broadway and was interviewed for the AJC, along with other articles, to “commemorate” 9/11. She refused to allow her children to be photographed for the article saying <parahrase> “My daughters will always be children of 9/11, but I don’t want it stamped on thier foreheads.”
A good sentiment. 9/11 will always be a part of us. It was that huge. But we don’t have to wear it stamped on our foreheads.
I don’t think it’s heartless at all, but maybe that’s because that’s how I feel. It’s just common sense. I wrote a long rant about this on Saturday, but not forgetting something unforgettable is not an accomplishment. Especially only three years later. People who still find any meaning in it are lucky and probably very rare. It’s been milked beyond belief.
I remember the innocent lost, and I feel so very sorry for them. But the thought of 9/11 only brings to my mind the horrible abuses of the current administration. I just try not to think about it at all.
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