TGIO (thank gods its over)

I mean, in fact, the remembrances of 9-11. Now, before you get all up in arms about how horrible I am to not want to remember all of those who died that day, let me ask you: How many of you make a pilgrimage each year to the Vietnam War memorial - or even to your local war memorial? How many of you know the significance of April 19, 1995? It's not that I don't want to remember those who died on 9-11 - it's that it has become so large, and so immense in our minds, that we've forgotten others who have died as well.

Not only that, but there's a link in our minds now that "all terrorist acts must be from Muslim separatists and the like". Yet, neither Timothy McVeigh nor Terry Nichols were Muslim - in fact, the bombing was in retribution to the FBI attack on the Branch Davidian compound the year prior. While recognized as a cult, the Branch Davidians certainly could not be connected or construed to be Muslim in any way.

Since the beginning of 1974, our country has been directly targeted by49 separate incidents - possibly more. Yet we are only aware of one... Perhaps it's because the scale of carnage is so high - yet I think there's another part to it as well... We have become the channel-flipping nation, the drama-llama nation - if it doesn't make headlines for more than two weeks, we forget about it. If we haven't heard about it for over a year, we forget about it. It simply ceases to be important to us.

It doesn't change the fact, however, that others outside the 9-11 attacks died in terrorist attacks, whether they were planned by Muslim extremists or not. It doesn't change the fact that hundreds, perhaps even thousands of lives were irreparably changed PRIOR to 9-11-01. Nor does it change the fact that no one will remember them, outside of their direct families.

Instead of remembering just one terrorist event on US soil, involving US citizens, how about remembering them ALL. Instead of focusing on one single incident, look back and see how many others lost their lives for just being, literally, in the wrong place at the wrong time. Try being something other than what the media expects you to be - a TV channel-flipper with a 15-second memory capacity.

No - I don't want to remember those who died on 9-11... or at least, I don't want to JUST remember those men and women. I want to remember them all. As they deserve to be remembered. As mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, sons and daughters. As friends and family, and as members of my country. I want to give them the respect that they ALL deserve.

~M