Sept. 11 will never again
be just another day on
the calendar. But it will, at some point, become just another day we make a point of remembering. One day, one year, Sept. 11, 2001, will cease to be a raw, open wound, and will become a day much like the original “ day that will live in infamy, ” as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt so eloquently named it — Dec. 7, 1941, the day the Japanese surprise-bombed Pearl Harbor. Meaning it will be a day we take note of, and honor, but not necessarily a day we still see and feel as if it were yesterday. Instead of remembering those frightening, uncertain hours as if they just happened, we’ll struggle to recall — to really feel again — the way we felt as the World Trade Center crumbled and the Pentagon burned.
One wonders when that transition took place in regard to Dec. 7. When did it stop being a visceral experience for those who lived through it, and start being a day of somber, distant reflection ? How long did it take ? Was the end of World War II and the defeat of the Japanese Empire enough, or did it take more ? Did anyone really notice the transition ? Were there people who resisted it ?
As the years pass, there are fewer and fewer people able to answer questions like these where Pearl Harbor is concerned. And even if we were able to poll them, we’d expect to receive many different answers. After all, everyone views history from their own unique perspective, even when the history in question is a pivotal, shared experience.
Someday, it will be just as hard to reach a consensus about when 9 / 11 made the transition from open wound to day of reflection. But we feel safe in saying that day is still a long way off. We’re far from being able to discuss the terrorist attacks of that day with the cool detachment of people looking back on history. And right now, unpleasant as our emotions might be, that’s a good thing.
Forget for a moment whatever political leanings you bring to the table, if any. We live in an age where clarity is available to those willing to open their eyes. There are, without dispute, evil people intent upon causing us the greatest damage possible, on as large a scale as they can manage.
Our lives are hectic enough, our standard of living is high enough and our public discourse is confusing enough that it’s easy to set that unpleasant reality aside. But that isn’t safe. We haven’t yet gotten to the place where we can let our guard down and assume that peace and harmony are ours. And until we can, 9 / 11 has to remain at the forefront of our thinking. It has to remain an open wound, sensitive to the touch.
That doesn’t mean we live in fear, or that we embrace anger as a way of life. It isn’t in the character of most Americans to do either of those things. But it does mean we remain aware of the threats that are out there.
We owe it to the people who died on 9 / 11 to remember them. We owe it to the people defending our way of life in the armed forces to support them. But we all owe a lot to ourselves and our loved ones as well — including refusing to bury our heads in the sand.
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