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.