[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

The people that died in that tragedy that day deserve not to be forgotten.

You know Captain, they aren't. There are memorials built to honor them. 700 (!) across the country in fact. What we don't need is this yearly reminder of something done by a select few. Every time we bring up 9/11, and reminisce about the horrors of that day, the terrorists re-achieve their goals. The hate and a fear builds again, and that is the best weapon we provide those that wish to do us harm; foreign and domestic in nature.

The first responders and other people who ran into danger to try to save lives do not deserve to be forgotten.

Yet those same first responders are looked down on every single day and dishonored for doing their job, a job not many are willing to do. If you truly want to honor those first responders, then do so every single day of the year by supporting the efforts of their brothers still in arms, and respecting their authority, not by making some empty post every year on anniversary of 9/11. If you truly want to honor those first responders, then support the ones who live on with debilitating injuries and diseases from working the pile. Throw your support behind the efforts to get them the financial commitments from the government to make them whole again. And if you really want to honor them, commit your own fiscal resources to help them continue that fight.

We can talk about the American reaction and its effects due to this, that also should not be forgotten but should be used as a cautionary tale of policy gone awry.

Do the quarter million dead Iraqis receive the same reverence in your memory? How about the Afghanis? 370,000 innocent lives snuffed out as a result of our unwillingness to forget (a 112:1 ratio). 7,600,000 innocents displaced because of direct response to the events of 9/11. $4.8 trillion is the cost of the response, and that number grows each day. You want to remember? Remember those numbers as well. I also urge you to remember the countries of origins of the terrorists. 14 Saudi Arabians. Two from the United Emirates. One each from Lebanon and Egypt. Not one Iraqi or Afghani. Foreign Policy gone awry, or a blood vengeance with a poor moral compass?

And shouldn't be forgotten.

They will not be forgotten. They will never be forgotten. What we don't need is the incessant reminders that 9/11 happened, and have it trotted out as some badge of honor to wear on our coat sleeves. I look forward to the day when the date, September 11th, is nothing more than another day on the calendar for most people; like April 4th, May 7th, or June 6th, or August 6th, or August 9th, or November 22nd, or December 7th, and so on. Because as it currently is remembered, it is counterproductive to this country healing and the world becoming a better place.