Random 9/11 Thoughts at 21

Today, we are to mark, mention and mourn as the 21st anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. And if only that was simple, and "it" was just that simple.

If we were to commemorate every day on which there, historically, was a massacre, would there be any days on which there was no commemoration?

When does the recent past become history? When does pain become the memory of pain?

The “never Forget” of 21 years is part of a tradition of similar commands dating back to the bible. But when does “not forgetting” become the essence of the day instead of the “remembering”?

I wonder if the opposite happens with celebratory anniversaries – we move quickly from “never forget” into “remember”. Sure, we can set off fireworks when we remember the 4^th of July but we have stopped worrying about the “Never forget” of monarchic tyranny. We remember a birthday, less and less concerned about the “never forget the birth.”

And when did “dealing with the aftermath of” turn into “remembering”, anyway?

Then a bizarre sense of moral indignation sets in – “Hey, what gives you the right to only know the day as history? You’re an American and we all hurt.” Except maybe that’s when “remember” becomes “never forget”: when we no longer all and automatically hurt even though we know we have to “never forget.”

So today, when people are getting married and football is being played, when the calendar reminds us that 21 years ago, too many died, and since then, even more, today as we put an X in the box on the calendar because this is just another small bit of printing on a wall reminding us, let’s make sure that we remember and don’t only “never forget”.