A Day To Remember

"On September 11th, 2001, 4 passenger jets crashed by the force of terrorism. The twin world trade centers were each hit with planes, a third into the Pentagon. A fourth plane never reached its destination, it was brought down by the brave souls on Flight 93 that made the ultimate sacrifice. Almost 3,000 innocent people were killed that day, along with the first responders to the attacks: firemen, police, and paramedics. In remembrance of these brave men and women, post this as your status." These are the words that are plaguing Facebook news feeds around the country on this day. This day on which ten years ago something horrific happened. Ten years ago today, almost three thousand innocent American citizens woke up. It was a day like any other. The date had no significance to the country; not close to any Christian holidays, no reason life shouldn't go on exactly as it was. Hundreds of Americans boarded their airplanes; Middle aged men ready to make their commute to work. Families like my own ready to begin a vacation. Pilots that were just starting another day at the office.
       The moment these planes were taken over by terrorists, America changed forever. Women were widowed, children were orphaned, girlfriends and boyfriends abandoned, and America lost in the turmoil of it all. The World Trade Center was hit, and at first, while they were still drinking their morning coffee, perhaps the local firemen and police officers rejoiced at the possibility of an exciting day at work. Then they witnessed what they were facing. A building just waiting to collapse. Those on high floors who had given up hope jumping to their deaths. Hopes of an exciting work day were gone, and in its place, the realization that they would be lucky to live to drink another cup of coffee.
       Ten years have passed, and we're still remembering. There's no escaping the memory; it's all over television, the internet, newspapers, it's everywhere. Am I the only one who believes that this is not a day to remember? We should not be trying our best to remember this horrific day, we should be doing our best to forget. We should not be celebrating the tenth anniversary of a tragedy. That's what happened, it was a tragedy. A tragedy that should be learned from. Of course, we should honor those who were killed. There were men and women who did very brave things on this day. However, doing our best to remember this day, and keeping the memory alive, it's like reopening a fatal wound in our country's history. And forcing high school U.S. History classes to watch a documentary that shows the event of terrorists killing our citizens over and over again is like rubbing salt in that wound.
       Ten years ago today, I was six years old. A kid in my first grade class was blabbering on about some plane crash. An hour later, my teacher was watching the news while our class had playtime, with tears in her eyes. Such an event is not a day to be remembered. It is a day to be learned from and forgotten. The pain, the suffering, remembering is just torturing ourselves. This morning I woke up, and gave myself one minute. Sixty seconds to remember, and honor the brave few, and give out my best wishes to the families of those who lost loved ones in the act of terrorism. Then my sixty seconds were up, and I moved on with my life. Do not think that I am some anti-American lunatic. I'm just a girl who believes we should work to remember what our country should be proud of: good times, breakthroughs, things that put a smile on our faces. Not something that brings tears to our eyes.

9/11/01 - I have such respect for the day, but hopefully our country is someday strong enough to forget.