Only 364 Days To Go

First of all, congratulations to all of you who correctly identified yesterday's book quote. Your extra credit points are in the mail.

So 364 Days until what you may ask? The 6th Anniversary of September 11th of course. I said in yesterday's post that I would refrain from telling you how I really feel about Septmeber 11th, so as not to offend any of you, the readers. But a comment left by one of my readers inspired me to rethink my postition on this matter. Not how I feel but how I didn't want to offend anyone. The comment made me come to two conclusions. First, more people than I thought agree with me but are probably too scared to speak up for fear of offending someone. Second, to quote my Mom's favorite songstress Lesley Gore, it's my party and I'll cry if I want to. That's right. It's my blog and I will write what I want. If you don't like it, then get your own blog. Remember, this is America!!! I can write what I want and you, the reader, can write back whatever praise or criticism you want.

Speaking of which, if you are going to leave a comment, please sign your name in some way. "Anonymous" doesn't really help me. And this way I can thank you personally and know where to send your extra credit points.

Anyway, I would like to leave you with my little rant on September 11th that resulted from the aforementioned comment. Please feel free to form your own opinion on the subject because remember, "It ain't us, it's the media." (Extra credit for identifying that quote too)

My feeling is that the media has blown the whole thing way out of proportion and just uses it for ratings and money.

I mean, yeah, it makes me really sad and mad to think of what happened that day. In Hawaii on Pearl Harbor Day they lay some flowers like you would with any death and that's it. For instance, I went with my Dad in December '01 to visit ground zero and there were hundreds of street vendors selling 9/11 merchandise. Sure, that's real sensitive. I'm sure it all went to the victim's families.

Also, I was watching tv last night and came across a show on the flight that crashed PA. They were going through every person on there and giving a background of them. It made me sick. I mean, yes we know people died and obviously each one had a story but we shouldn't have to re-live the death every year. It's like having a gut-wrenching funeral every year for 3,000 people. You don't have a funeral for [dead] family members every year. Maybe light a candle, take some flowers to the cemetery, say a prayer.

I also think the term "heroes" has been used way too liberally. Now you are probably already thinking that I am some insensitive guy with no heart. I have tons of respect for the fire and police and military. I just don't think they are "heroes" for dying doing something they signed up for knowing the risks. They are certainly great individuals who deserved to be honored for risking their lives serving the people. A "hero" to me is someone who goes above and beyond what they are expected to do. If say a civilian tried to rescue people from a burning building, then that is a hero to me. A fireman knows he could die in a building during a rescue and accepts that risk. The guys who took out the terrorists on the PA plane so they couldn't crash it into the White House, they are heroes.

That's just my opinion and you are welcome to disagree with it. If you still want to talk to me after my little rant, feel free to respond.

So in the words of probably the worst Weekend Update host ever, "That's my story and I'm sticking to it." Have a great 1 day Anniversary of the 5 year Anniversary of September 11th!