I have a business trip coming up. Will be in the air for a while. Including Tuesday.

Some thoughts:

As I listened to the radio this morning, I heard report after report about what ceremonies will be held for the remembrance of the 9/11 /2001 attacks.

Like it's some kind of a national holiday on par with, say, Memorial Day or Thanksgiving Day.

I wonder how long before we have "America Day" and the malls all open early with DOORBUSTER SALES ON THE NEWEST RED WHITE AND BLUE THINGS & FREE WITH EVERY PURCHASE - TINY PLASTIC MODELS OF THE WORLD TRADE CENTER TOWERS! (made in China)

I'm tired of wallowing in endless national self-pity over the 9/11 attacks.

I admit that I spent pretty much all of 2002 and 2003 consumed with a combination of fear and melancholy over the attacks – after all, I like so many thousands of others was one of those “I was supposed to be there that day” people. But it’s 2007, I’ve proceeded with my life after a period of mourning. I’ve accepted. I've moved on.

As I fly from point A to point B on this coming September 11th 2007, while we cruise at 35,000 feet or so, I will peer out my window to the land below and I will hope that someday we will move on and we will stop the ceaseless mourning that threatens to turn the day into a kind of twisted national holiday, and we accept, understand and get on with the duty of life here and now, instead of obsessing over deaths in the past.

That is all for now.

As a read your post, I remembered a bright, clear September morning in College Station, Texas; standing with approx. 60 of my "Brothers" watching in horror as the towers fell. The group assembled was doing the qualification to teach structural collapse rescue. Most were FEMA US&R task force members. None of us will ever forget that day or the days that followed. We lost several friends that day and 343 of our Brothers perished. While I'm not obsessed with the situation, I WILL NEVER FORGET!!! No American should the ever forget. 9/11/01 was our generations Pearl Harbor. Frankly, it should have been the wake-up call from hell. IMHO, the terrorists haven't forgotten and they will be back, unless we continue to prepare and encourage our peers to do the same. Additionally, it is incumbent upon us to urge our lawmakers to continue to fund Homeland Security initatives.
I fear that the second awakening of America may come when a suicide bomber walks into an unprotected area, raises his/her arms and detonates. I hope it never happens, but its both possible and probable unless we remain vigilant, prepared and trained. Just my $.02

Except for the day of 9/11/01, I haven't mourned; for me it isn't about mourning, it's about remembering and being ready because it will happen again.

Never forget does not mean never stop living in the past.

Never forget means learn, adapt and never make the same mistakes again.

Never forget means respect the memories of the dead, and the sadness of the day, but it does not mean stay in the same emotional state you were in on and soon after that day.

Never forget does not mean eternal fear of it "happening again", it means knowing it could happen again, and using what you learned the first time to try to make the next time less likely and less damaging.

The "terrorists" as we call them have indeed won your hearts and minds if all you do is think about them and what they might do. You run in ever-tightening circles of fear nested in paranoia nested in worry nested in fantasy as you decide what you "could do" if you had the desire to do it.

Any group with an agenda can inflict terror. YOU could inflict terror - and I could give plenty of cases in the years past 2001 where we've had our own "terrorist" attacks by Americans on Americans (Virginia Tech anyone?), but because these attacks were not by Islamic militants, our reaction as a nation was totally different.

My point is that, yes, I think that religious extremists with a violent agenda want to inflict mass casualties on the US. Yes, I know that with $200,000 and no desire to live, any small group of people could inflict incredible hurt on the USA.

But you know what?

More people die each year in car wrecks than by all terrorist incidents, combined, worldwide. I fear the idiot on the cell phone turning left in front of me more than Osama Bin Laden.

More people die in America as a result of medical mistakes than by all terrorist incidents, combined, worldwide. I fear a week-long stay int eh hospital to have my appendix out more than Al-Queda.

More people die in America as a result of heart attacks caused by obisety by all terrorist incidents, combined, worldwide. I fear a pile of deep-fried death more than some guy with a bomb vest at the bus station.

I'm a firefighter, and I know death up close and personal. I know that 9/11 was a "wakeup call" but for me, it's just something that can happen here now too. Perhaps it's from working in New York City, where when there's an emergency, I get to see incredible, nearly instant responses by qualified emergency workers (the steam explosion, for example), and I know - we ARE ready. We ARE well equipped, we ARE prepared. So that's good. But I'm not going to spend all my life plotting scenarios until I'm consumed with it.

I have beer to drink, places to go, people to see. I will do that. Without hesitation, without worry, without fear.

Very, very well stated...nothing to add to this.

Thanks ... you described how I feel, but much more eloquently than I could have!

Some Further Thoughts on your Thoughts,-

First of all, -a certain Getting "Back to Normalcy", (to quote President Harding), -is and has been Due, Called For, Right, Proper, Advisable, and Neccessary!

In *some* Respects, -We've *Overdone* it in those Immeadiate Post September 11th Moments / Minutes / Hours / Days / Weeks / Months / and as you say, Year or Two.

And then proceeded to Way *Underdo* it in that Following One to Six Years!

The latter doubtless had some of the former, -as a Causeative Factor!

But we Just *Can't* Afford to Forget, -and go on Back to Sleep!

We *Don't Have*!, -the Luxury of Growing Weary or Tired!

Want to Get Zonked Again!, -but this Time, -Know to our Inavoidable Shame!, -that we had Dropped the Ball! And *Weren't* Running with it!?

I know you've Experienced it, Largely Remember it, Respect it, and Such. As you've said.

But by what you also say, -You also Substantially, -and by your own Admission even Willingly, (as I See and Read it), -Forget!

You spoke of Endless Wallowers and Wallowing. I Reply that many a Forgetter out there, -is a Far Cry from "Endless Wallowing in it"!

A Few Musts and Dos, -that we suppossedly Finally Learned!, -and Swore that we would "Never Forget!".

National Security and Defense! / All Round Morals / A Sound Economy / Re-View the September 11th Films (as We Did Before) / Rebuild the Towers just as Before! And in the Same Spots! Only Difference being maybe even Higher! / Build the 1776 Foot Freedom Tower Memorial nearby, -albeit of a Different, Right On Design! / Additionally, -Those simple Blue Light Pillar Memorials that we Had Up for awhile were Perfectly Fine! / RE-Do the Flight 93 Memorial Plans! To Eliminate the Hidden Elements therein that we're hearing about, -that Honor the *Skyjackers* and their View and "Vision"!, -of All Things and People! / *Keep* our Flags Up! As Thoroughly and as Commonly as in those Immeadiate Post 9-11 Days, Weeks, and Months! *Get* Em Back Up! Pretend someone like Bull Halsey or Hyman Rickover is Telling you to Do So! / The TSA and such should Quit Searching Grandmothers! / Yes to things like Patriot Act, Gitmo, Profiling, NSA, and Dare I say it, -even Iraq! Resounding and Ringing Yeses! / No to things like their Opposites! / There's Bookstores out there! Most have a TV, Radio, or Net! Read Books, Papers, and Magazines on it! Turn on your Dial and Knob, -and Watch and Listen to things Bearing on this! Get and Watch Videos. Search the Net! Make it your Business as a Citizen to Be Informed and Know! Do it Eagerly! (Like Brazilians say with Soccer)! Soak it all up like a Sponge! / Be Prepared!, -there on your Own little Home Front! / Talk about such things!, -with your Fellow Everyday Americans, -like you might talk about the Latest Movie or Movie Star or something! / How bout if we even Name our Next Aircraft Carrier the "September 11th"?! Not building Carriers anymore? Then Dang Build them! / And Others / And Others / And Other Such...

Spirit and Point of it All is to Act and Be like We're Really Into it!!! To Cheer and All Else like an All Out Steeler Fan who's Really Into it! (To Apply and Quote something from my own Home Neck of the Woods here! Of which I also think the Larger Nation as a Whole, -is Amply Familiar with!). *Not* like some Dude who Wearily says, -"Dah!?, -Do I have to Cheer now?" To Bip out a Weak Feeble Little Obligatory Rah Rah Rah!

Return to All Due Normalcy Yes! But *Not* a Return to September *10th*!

We *Can't* Afford to Grow Weak, Weary, Tired, Soft, Feeble, and Faint!

Shame on any of Us / U.S. -who do!

I think that all of our 2007 Selves, -should go Walk into a Room, -and Meet our Late 2001 Selves!

I think that by such, -We will be Astonishingly Shocked!, -by the State of our Latter Selve's Flagging and Forgetting!

Yes, -our 2001 Selves would get some Good Advice on not Overdoing a thing every here and there!

But Far More Imperatively and Importantly, -Our 2007 Selves would get quite a Heaping Helpful Advice! in the Opposite and *Other* Direction!

"The September 10TH Woods are Lovely, Dark, and Deep! But We've Got Promises to Remember and Keep! And Years and Miles to Go!, -*Before* we again Sleep!" (Hey!, -Better Yet, -Lets then STAY Woken Up! -And NOT again Return to Sleep!).

So We've Got to *Stay* Fully INTO this Thing!, -Till that Last Enemy Dog of our's out there, -Dies!...