September 11: Keep Moving Forward

Here we are. September 11, 2008. Another anniversary of "that day." How do you feel? Probably not great, I bet. Public opinion of the people that lead us is in the toilet, and while you might feel all psyched up about your candidate, I'd bet that's false confidence.

As has been pointed out before, the US of A was a pretty united place on September 12th, 2001. The flags were flying everywhere. We wept, we prayed, we hugged, we held telethons. By October, during the World Series, I began to hear whispers that we weren't really that united after all. Folks in Arizona, for instance (where that World Series was partially held) were sad, but not all that concerned. The trickling thought was that "9/11" was an "East Coast event", and a "New York thing." Yet to my knowledge the body count sits at just about 3000 people (I've seen various counts). Best as I can tell, those were mostly people of the United States - not just New Yorkers - with people from places like Washington, Boston, and beyond.

Then we went into Afghanistan and Iraq. Saddam fell and was hanged. Osama Bin Laden hasn't been found. Gas is hovering around $4.00 per gallon. Millions of jobs have been lost. Lives have been ruined (and are hopefully being rebuilt).

So again, how do you feel?

I've written about my 9/11 thoughts annually - first in 2006, then last year.

I'm as patriotic as anybody, but I'm not a bandwagon patriot. I hang my flag, but I don't wave it to show "HEY! Look at ME! I'm a GOOD AMERICAN!!" Don't make me sick. I don't - and REFUSE - to send around those cheesy chain emails with ghosted images of angels, god, and the Twin Towers, or the ones with some pithy saying. Sorry - you can send them to me, but they quickly hit the deleted bin. Yet when it comes to this day - September 11th - I get mad. You can probably read it in this today (because there's nothing vague about what I'm writing here).

So I will observe my tradition. I will play the montage of audio that I have from 2001 (posted below once again). It saddens me. It angers me. It gives me chills, and makes me sick. It reminds me of where I was, and what I was doing. How all I cared about was my wife and unborn child. That day, I didn't care about being a reporter (about the only time that's ever happened).

Then I will listen to Bruce Springsteen's The Rising, along with selected choices from America: A Tribute to Heroes, the album that emerged from the post-9/11 telethon that ran on just about every TV channel. At the end of my playlist is a song from All The Roadrunning by Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris. It's called "If This is Goodbye." If you hear that song and it doesn't make you emotional - be it tears or anger, then you might just be immune.

Whatever. Just never forget.

Incidentally, if there's a song that you'd like to suggest for my September 11 playlist, I'd love to know about it. Post it in the comments. Thanks.