And so, September rolls around again.
Every 9/11 anniversary, on this blog, I've written something. I don't really know why I've felt the urge to, but I have. As the local paper here puts it, as much as things have returned to normal, 9/11 is the story we can't stop telling, the day we can't stop living. I suppose I write this just because it's important to stop and remember the people who died, and why things are the way they are today.
This year, being the fifth anniversary of the attacks, is different than say, last year or two years ago. Unlike past years, the news has mostly stopped, just for a day, to remember what happened five years ago. Why we are fighting.
For me this year is different because this past weekend, I was in New York City.
I was up there with Phoenix 14 News, Elon's news show, to help cover the fifth anniversary of 9/11. What I arrived to see was a city that remembered. To someone, such as myself, who had never been there before, it seemed like flags were everywhere. Tributes were stuck in car windows, on buildings, and on the streets.
But after talking with some of the people who had been there before since 9/11, I found that New York is actually a city that has moved on. True, there were lots of flags everywhere, but apparently, not long ago, they were literally everywhere. Part of it may just be that you would feel bad about taking down some sort of tribute to someone who died. They're still dead, after all.
I'm not surprised to find that they have moved on, though. We all have. Even if you always remember what happened that day, it's perfectly natural to move on after a while, to take down the sticker in the window. I think most of the victims, if they were alive, would understand.
But New York has by no means forgotten, and it's still very much more changed than anywhere else. As I saw, Ground Zero is still mostly a gaping hole in the ground, although they've started working on the foundation to the Freedom Tower.
For now, it's important to always remember them, and that terrorism can happen here, but to try and live as normal a life as possible. We must remain concerned, but not scared. Prepared, but not fretful. Terror is exactly the purpose of terrorist attacks. By not being afraid, in a very small way, you are sticking it to bin Laden. I felt that way by visiting New York.
Remember: We have nothing to fear but terror itself.
There is a lot more that I could get into here: What we have done right (The 9/11 Commission, most of our doings in Afghanistan), what we have done wrong (Letting people waste money on pork barrel projects while the country remains insecure, and, I'm sad to say, going into Iraq), but this is not supposed to be a political entry. This is a tribute.
As 9/11 fades into the archives of history, it will always be remembered as a turning point. The day that post-Cold War peace ended and a new era of fighting not a country, but an ideology began. The day where news went from being endless tabloid-like coverage to Earth-shattering disaster and then a world at war.
But most importantly, we should just remember.
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