The anniversary of 9/11 is coming up

Sadie sent me a very interesting email about the tenth anniversary of 9/11.  I’m gambling her that she won’t mind if I share her email.  I’d add my own comments at the end.

It’s coming (the 10-year marker) but it’s been here all the time, every day and in every way.

I went to Michael’s Craft store this past week and was,to put it mildly, PO’d — put off by a display of flags, T-shirts, yellow ribbons display, all if it imprinted with NEVER FORGET.

Never Forget what? September 11, 2001

Never Forget that the laws of war changed forever.

Never Forget the misery inflicted on the dead and the survivors.

Never Forget that the cost of securing airports, bus terminals, trains, bridges, water, nuclear plants, Times Square or Washington has upped the cost of everything from that day forward.

Never Forget we’ve been at war since 2002.

Never Forget that we keep burying soldiers.

Never Forget what?

Never Forget that what we saw and what some now call Islamophia is actually September 11, 2001 everyday.

I don’t have to be told to “Never Forget” but some have to be reminded to ALWAYS REMEMBER, who, what, where when and why…the five “w’s” of old fashioned journalism.

Just needed to rant and who better than you [and the Bookworm Room crowd] to share a rant.

Damn, I am feeling cranky lately. Is Israel the only place in the world where the grip on reality still exists. Do you have to live some version of September 11th everyday?

To which I’ll add this: Sadie is absolutely right that the short hand (“Never forget”), which worked perfectly well on 9/12, has become totally meaningless a decade later.

As for me, I’m put off by something different. I know this is silly, but it bugs me that someone as unworthy and American-hating as Obama is presiding over this anniversary. We know that in his ponderous, Leftist, bloviating, cliched way, he’s going to leech this solemn day of any meaning other than Leftist platitudes.

Don Quixote has frequently and correctly pointed out that my dislike for Obama is so strong that it affects my posting — the fact that I hold Obama in deep and obvious disdain destroys my credibility when I try to write objectively about his conduct.  But 9/11 is different.  In addition to the pragmatic concerns (national security, inconvenient air travel, ongoing wars, etc.), 9/11 is a deeply visceral thing.

I know this is silly, but I still have a frisson of unhappiness when I glance at a digital clock and the read-out says “9:11.”  It’s become a sad number to me.  It is imbued with emotion.  So yes, it bugs me ridiculously to have those emotions, real, even though intangible, presided over by a man whom I dislike and who doesn’t, I think, “get it.”  It’s just one more little thing to make the day more disheartening than any other day of the year.