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NEVER FORGET

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Im conflicted on today.

On the one hand I want to publicly state that I will never forget and show my patriotism just like everyone else.

But I feel like this is getting to be almost a show where people post on facebook and other social sites so they can show they will "never forget". Not stating that is what is happening here AT ALL...seriously, Im not...I just think that it is almost commercial to a point.
I feel exactly the same way Mike. In fact, we had the tv off for most of the day today, because quite frankly I'm tired of hearing it every year. Not in the sense that it sounds like when I say that, but for the same reason as you - the commercialization of it. I'm so burned out on the constant and chronic rehashing and sensationalizing of it. It just seems more like everyone is trying to outdo each other than actually pay tribute. And every year hearing......can you believe it's already been x amount of years since it happened?

Personally for me, with my father in law being at the Pentagon when it happened and nearly being killed, and the fact it was an attack on my country and innocent people lost their lives, it was one of the worst days of my life. The section my father in laws office was in was being worked on, and was almost at dead center of the point of impact. Even with his temporary office that he was in, he still got thrown to the ground hard and was seriously injured, because the blast radius ended just outside of his temporary office. He's a retired Marine, and to this day he is a shell of himself and constantly severely depressed for crawling to safety and surviving instead of dying with his men. He went from being the most lively and personable guy I ever met, to a total hermit, and it's sad to see.
 
Im conflicted on today.

On the one hand I want to publicly state that I will never forget and show my patriotism just like everyone else.

But I feel like this is getting to be almost a show where people post on facebook and other social sites so they can show they will "never forget". Not stating that is what is happening here AT ALL...seriously, Im not...I just think that it is almost commercial to a point.

Mike, no need to clarify what so ever brudda, it's not taken that way at all, and I agree completely. Between specials on discovery and movies on cable, it's as close to commercial as it can be. I just can't help myself, I tend to wear my heart on my sleeve. I'm no longer grieving, but don't know if the anger will never subside.
 
Personally for me, with my father in law being at the Pentagon when it happened and nearly being killed, and the fact it was an attack on my country and innocent people lost their lives, it was one of the worst days of my life. The section my father in laws office was in was being worked on, and was almost at dead center of the point of impact. Even with his temporary office that he was in, he still got thrown to the ground hard and was seriously injured, because the blast radius ended just outside of his temporary office. He's a retired Marine, and to this day he is a shell of himself and constantly severely depressed for crawling to safety and surviving instead of dying with his men. He went from being the most lively and personable guy I ever met, to a total hermit, and it's sad to see.

Truly a shame.
One the worst days in my life too, lost a good friend, and a number of acquaintances.
 
I tend to agree with a lot posted here. I will never forget that morning.. I was watching TV live when everything switched to the Twin Towers. I had a friend lose a husband at the Pentagon. My niece was working in DC when the Pentagon was hit. I remember it like it was yesterday, so no I will never forget.

But I also agree on the sensationalism. People have to grieve and then go on living, the constant reminder of that day now 11 years ago open wounds that have started to heal, if not having already healed. I have no problems with the commemmorations with regards to what they are doing in NY with regards to a memorial, same for the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania (and might I add, that while the Twin Towers was obviously the most dramatic and devastating in terms of numbers, try telling that to one person who lost a loved one in Pennsylvania or the Pentagon. Any way just kindof giving my 2 cents. Will I ever forget? No. My patriotism is as strong as it ever was. But that day just brought it to bear. I've always teared up at the sound of the Star Spangled Banner, NOT just since that day... I'm proud of this country, proud of the heroes that saved lives that day in all 3 locations (including ON the plane that crashed in PA), sorry for those who lost loved ones. And angry that anyone could unleash that kind of evil on ANY country. But it is sortof getting to the point of commercialism. I did post a simple picture on my facebook page. All it said was never forget and had the TT, Pentagon and Pennsylvania on it; in honor of my friend's husband who did die at the Pentagon. And just as I always remember my husband especially on the anniversary of his death as well as our wedding anniversary, I will also always say a small prayer on 9/11. But that is privately.

I think I've rambled enough now. I hope no one takes offense. None is intended.
 
No reason for anybody to take offense that I can see Sandy
 
I guess it depends on whether you believe 9/11 was just a random event, some crazy man taking advantage of a major gap in US security and our open society, OR an attack that save for our continued vigilance and focus, could easily happen again at any time in some other form.

Open wounds and feelings matter, but not as much as keeping what happened in the forefront of our brains. If the happenings of the past week aren't a big enough reminder, we are HATED by many in this world and despite the media overkill on 9/11 every year, the truth is, many may not have 'forgotten', but they have begun to view the events of that day as something that 'happened', not something that 'could happen'.

It's our nature to become complacent. The longer we've gone without an attack on US soil, the more we come to believe it won't happen again. It will. Whatever it takes to keep us vigilant - it's not a bad thing.
 
Is it bad when I hear "never forget" and my first thought was the Holocaust?

9/11 was certainly a seminal moment and one that shook me deeply. I will never forget it and I think it changed history and our culture in a profound way.

But, for me, "never forget" belongs to the Holocaust... maybe it was because that phrase was associated with it through my childhood and most of my adulthood.
 
No not bad at all burgold. Everyone relates to different tragedies, well, differently. It's all about perspective.

Everyone deals with greif/tragedy differently as well.

It's not anyone's place to tell you the right or wrong way to deal with it.

For me the holocaust is something I read about in a text book, and have seen movies made about. It happened roughly 40-47 years before I was born. However, I was sitting in 2nd period in high school awaiting lunch when the announcements of 9/11 came over the speaker. My father was a member of the firefighting teams in the area the day it happened. His firefighting unit is the one that hung the American flag on the pentagon.
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Those were his guys.

(note: he received a promotion on 9/10/2001 that took him out of the firehouse and moved him back into the office. so he wasn't actually there. but he ran that firehouse for over a year, and to him those were his guys. to this day he is upset he missed out on being part of something special, and more importantly doing what he he had done all his life when the nation needed people like him the most. hindsight is a bitch, but he would have gladly given up the promotion to have been there that day with his guys helping save people)

I was stuck in school wondering wtf was going on and how it would immediately impact my family. I was one of the few with a cell phone at the time for emergencies because I had just started driving. I couldn't get through to anyone, the phone systems were jammed that day. I remember many people in my school in the same situation, I remember many of the students leaving against the school's policy and under threat of being disciplined, because they had family that worked in the pentagon. There's a lot of military and government families where I live; a lot. Many of them were an emotional wreck.

It doesn't make one worse than the other, or one more meaningful. It just means 9/11 had a much bigger impact on me than the holocaust. That means nothing for how you are to interpret the two events, or anyone else for that matter. Anyone who pretends to be the authority on how you should react or feel about things like this is delusional and should be ignored.
 
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Yeah, I think for me part of it is that I was partly raised by my Grandmother who was a Holocaust survivor and lost 3 quarters of my family during those years. Even my mom was born in 39 just a few months before the Lodz Ghetto closed. So, while I never lived it there is an immediacy simply because of how I saw the long term impact of it.

With 9/11 the impact is more intimate because I lived through it and had family working in both DC and NYC at the time, but "never forget" relates to genocide to me.
 
Wow. That's completely reasonable. I cannot even fathom what your family has been through. I have been incredibly lucky to not have lost any family to something so tragic and cannot even being to relate or pretend to understand to how something like that shapes your opinion and who you are as a person.
 
Yeah, I think for me part of it is that I was partly raised by my Grandmother who was a Holocaust survivor and lost 3 quarters of my family during those years. Even my mom was born in 39 just a few months before the Lodz Ghetto closed. So, while I never lived it there is an immediacy simply because of how I saw the long term impact of it.

With 9/11 the impact is more intimate because I lived through it and had family working in both DC and NYC at the time, but "never forget" relates to genocide to me.

Completely understandable. While not having a direct effect on any of my family, the Holocaust did have a direct effect on many closest to me growing up.
 

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