WHAT DOES 9/11 MEAN TO YOU?

September 11, 2001 was a memorable day for the entire world - for all the wrong reasons.  We watched transfixed in horror at what was happening to the World Trade Center in New York that day - powerless to do anything.  Not only were the WTC twin-towers attacked that ultimately led to their collapse, but other attacks were executed:  one carried out on the Pentagon, another thwarted with the downing of United Flight 93 due to the courageous actions of passengers on board that flight.  In the days that followed the news got progressively worse as the estimated number of persons who died in the towers grew - including way too many heroic first responders who gave up their lives in their attempt to save others.

A really, really, really terrible day.  One I wish I could forget.

But we can't.

We can't forget not just because we must always - ALWAYS - remember the brave innocent souls that perished on that fateful day, but because the networks and cable media are ensuring that they will have emotional IN-YOU-FACE coverage during this week leading up to the tenth anniversary of the attacks this Sunday.

I'm not sure I like that.  (Why are they doing it - ratings?  To see which network can out-memorialize the other?)

One reason I don't approve of the constant coverage/re-hash is that 9/11 was a traumatic day for a lot of people world-wide.  We basically witnessed thousands of people violently murdered right before our very eyes - an emotional trauma that I personally have not recovered from.  To this day there are people still unable to cope with the emotions that come with watching video footage of that day.  We now all suffer from some form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in one way or another.

Think not?  Try watching interviews and footage of the event and tell me you do NOT get suddenly emotional and choked up - THEN deny you suffer from PTSD.   This constant coverage and "remembrance" the way the networks are doing it is akin to water-boarding.

That's the problem,  We need to remember, not re-live.  This week-long coverage of the tenth anniversary of 9/11 and repeated showing of the towers collapsing is helping us heal how....?  Did we do an inward look at why we were attacked, and why they hated America - and Americans - so much?

No.

Instead, those in power at the time took full advantage of the situation and led our country into two expensive wars at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives while leaving our economy fragile and artificially bloated - vulnerable to collapse as it did in 2008.

(Some theorize THAT was the ultimate attack that bin Laden planned:  "How Bin Laden Failed To Wreck the U.S. Economy")

The event is now a part of us - but have we grown from it?  The only visible change the attack made to our lives is being unceremoniously frisked by the TSA every time we have to board an airplane - and even THAT system is not being conducted uniformly, and has major flaws.

We need to move on.  NOT FORGET - just move on.  Make the pain a part of our heritage - not sit around every year at this time rending our garments and putting ashes on our head.

Move-on by passing the bill that extend help to the first responders that are now suffering health problems form the toxic building materials used in the WTC towers.

Move-on by aiding those families who lost loved ones on that fateful day.

Move-on by examining our foreign policies and STOP being the world's policeman.

Move-on by ceasing funding to countries that support terrorists such as Pakistan, Sudan, and Syria.

But I digress.

This weekend, instead of subjecting yourself to a nervous breakdown try and do this for the tenth anniversary of 9/11:  remember, not re-live.  Pay homage how ever you want - just don't get carried up in the media ratings frenzy.

Move-on but never forget.