SEPTEMBER 12TH
It might be wise for us to be somewhat concerned about September 12th, the day after the much-planned anniversary observances of the 11th.
It appears that just about all TV shows seem to think they are obligated to do a re-run of the September 11th events on the anniversary date. Others are planning some elaborate “specials” marking the day and
there will be, no doubt, announcements forthcoming which will be naming or re-naming streets, avenues, parks, schools, and who knows what else, after someone killed at either the New York of D.C. sites.
There is a marked danger here in overdoing the whole thing. What a terrific let-down this is going to provide for survivors and relatives of those who died? After September 11th and in the weeks following the
tragedy will seem to have been forgotten, I fear.
This would seem to me to be a time for simple, uncomplicated acts of remembrance rather than a re-enactment of all the details of the tragic time. Not that those things should be forgotten, of course...far from
it, but to bring them back in full-force when memory is so recent is unthinkable in my book.
Much more in keeping with the solemnity of the occasion, we could observe religious ceremonies in one or the other of the religious faiths represented among the dead and injured. Care should be taken, too, it
would seem to me, to include among those honored those individuals who survived the attacks. They, in turn, should take this as a special time in which to thank those volunteers who came so readily to their rescue in moments of
crisis. It would be a time in which these people might acknowledge the assistance of any who have aided them in “getting on with their lives” after the events of a year ago. Much remedial love and care has been expended by
many people and groups in the past year to help victims regain some assurance that human values endure in spite of such a terrible setback.
Mark the occasion in some, simple, sincere manner, if you wish, but let’s not overdo it and cause needless hurt.
A.L.M. August 18, 2002 [c-368wds]
