10 Years Later

On Sunday I will be performing music at my church's 9/11 service. Ten years afterward, everything about "that date" still seems inextricably linked to the event that defined it in 2001. What does this mean to you?

I am struggling with how to acknowledge and (whether to) embrace the ten year anniversary of the September 11th attacks. I wonder how much longer it will be as raw as it still seems to be.

It brings to mind—for me anyway—how the American culture (US, that is) has come to treat holidays like Memorial Day and Veteran's Day, created initially to somberly mark devastating events in history. How many more years will pass beyond ten until September 11th, "Patriot Day"—not yet technically a holiday but it could be one—becomes an occasion to drink beer and eat grilled foods?

 

The jaded asshole in me is surprised it hasn't become a holiday like that already. Truly, once the generation most affected by the attack pass away or just lose their memories, then the date will lose it's sting. Anyone who was alive and, say, older than 15, when that happened will likely always tie anything on 9/11 back to the attacks in 2001.

 

being 10 years after the fact it's still too soon for me. there is just too much shit that happened after 9/11, the police state, wars etc. all i can say is i'm sorry for the people who died, their families, the first responders, and the troops that continue to fight these wars.

i couldn't get behind a holiday for 9/11 like memorial day, veterans day, or the 4th of july. there's nothing that happened on 9/11 that's worth drinking beers too or having a barbecue for imo.

good luck with the church service. i'm sure you will step on someone's toes no matter what you do.

 

Most of the hurt was blunted for me when my niece was born on 9/11/2003. She's a sweet girl.

 

it was a historical moment that i was too young to appreciate, but it'll be a strange feeling knowing that down the line i'll be able to say "i remember the day that happened"

 

Sounds corny, but it was the day I felt like an American. Prior to that day, I was just a naturalized citizen who ambled through life in the USA. When I saw those towers go down, I saw an attack against us.

 

"Patriot Day," huh? The USA PATRIOT Act and all the subsequent ass-raping of our rights in the name of security should be celebrated.

It's my general feeling that someone should crash a jumbo jet into a large building and kill thousands of people every ten years.

...

September 11th represents the day when our true colors came out. We're an ugly nation run by greedy old white people.

We've spent ten years being total dickheads, crippling thousands of young men for no benefit to our own country.

The time and money we've spent trying to fuck up and then fix other nations was desperately needed at home.

Fuck us.

...

On the bright side: If it wasn't for 9/11, I wouldn't have a job.

 

A horrible, but spot on, truth, Plan9.

 

I figure this old picture is a basically a gore-free summary of the last decade of history.

Really, you'd have to have the Private surrounded by a thousand dead bodies to be honest.



Back when I was in the military, I was in charge several kids. I mentored, I led, I tortured.

During the beginning of his first deployment, I asked the one pictured the purpose of the GWoT.

He was confused. Then I basically shared with him what I stated above in post #8.

He was still confused. I then instructed him to go out into the desert and grab his ankles from inside his knees.

I told him to continue to hold onto his ankles and push his ass up and down until he was instructed to stop.

This horribly uncomfortable motion is a lower enlisted torture exercise cleverly dubbed "The Monkey Fucker."

Rather fitting, I think.

 

Speaking for a stereotyped majority of US citizens, we have a bad habit of detaching ourselves from the meanings of days set aside to to reflect on and remember crucial national events. Memorial Day began, somberly, as a way to honor the dead from the Civil War, a devastating war and one of the most (if not the most) brutal conflict in American history—families torn asunder, brothers killing brothers, etc. Today we fetishize the Civil War, and the meaning of that day is far gone from the typical Memorial Day activities of most red-blooded American families. We couldn't possibly picture the same situation on September 11th now, but allowing it to become "Patriot Day" makes that easier to see happening years from now, and I wouldn't be surprised.

9/11 to me is much closer to August 6th, Pearl Harbor Day, than any national holiday. Calling it "Patriot Day" is a mistake because the name and the national fervor that comes with it completely detract from what the day was: a day that, like Pearl Harbor, will and should live in infamy.

I can't help wondering how the historic perspective of 9/11 and its aftermath will change over time; will the GWoT ever become for future generations what World War II, the ultimate aftermath of Pearl Harbor Day, has become to us?

Whoever controls the past controls the future, and whoever controls the present controls the past. (Orwell, 1984)*

*love this book

 

I object to 9/11 being called Patriot Day. We already have Patriots Day, which is April 19th. That marks the first day of the American Revolution. It might not be celebrated outside of the Northeast, but it is a long-standing holiday. (It is also the day that they run the Boston Marathon.)

 

DamnitAll,

Nice.

Patriot Day totally sounds like something related to the fact that we've always been at war with East Asia.

 

I don't think I could ever get behind a 9/11 holiday. I tend to agree with Plan9's view there. In the end, all 9/11 really did was bring out the ugly side of this country. And on a personal level, if I sit and reflect on that day, all I really remember is the rage and helplessness I felt sitting in the barracks and watching events unfold as I could only sit there and watch events unfold on TV. Trying to make a holiday out of it would feel like trying to white wash all that to me.

 

No, we've always been at war with Eurasia. East Asia has always been an ally.

Get it right.

 

How many pages did you stick into the burn slot?

...I stand corrected. (sees himself to Room 101)

 

its one of those days that i will never forget where i was and what i was doing. i was in nashville going to college and my wife was here in ga at that point in my life, and that day made me understand how much i love her.
i have an issue with working on some holidays. i have to work on memorial day. a few years ago we had a vet come into my dealership and say that he was never coming back because the dealer dosent observe memorial day.
i think that they should show the images every 9/11 so that we dont forget what happened and so we can remember all of the fallen people wether they were on scene or on a plane.

i often wonder how our country would be if that never happened?

 

Some more thoughts...

Right after the attacks happened, we were all encouraged to help the country get back on its feet by going shopping and buying stuff—not specifically American-made stuff, just stuff.

Both World Wars called for the nation to tighten its belt and sacrifice for the good of the war effort. More recently and maybe closer to home were the sacrifices made during the 1973 oil crisis.

Maybe I'm trying to compare apples and oranges, but I find it interesting to think about the differences between these two ways of thinking and what kind of repercussions we have experienced in and will continue to experience over the past decade and beyond because of our resulting actions. That spirit of sacrifice present decades ago, whether self-imposed or out of necessity, seems completely absent in this decade's response to GWoT and our new post-9/11 reality.

 

DamnitAll, I don't think Sept. 11 will ever evolve into a beer drinking holiday like Memorial Day. I don't think Veteran's Day is by most of us, except maybe at American Legion or VFW posts, but don't know about that. Memorial Day and Veterans Day have some basis in US victory, Sept. 11 was not a victory for the US. Neither was Dec. 7, 1941. We don't celebrate that day with picnics and cookouts.
I hope it remains as a day of quiet somber reverance.