9-11 Remembrance

America is a country of great diversity. Our freedom is our greatest asset. Without it we could not be diverse. We are free to disagree with our leaders and each other. We are free to speak ill of any of our country's institutions without fear of reprisal.
With our freedom comes responsibility to use it wisely. We can loathe the military and still be President. We are free to lie. Visitors to our country are free to move about even though they may have evil intentions. They are free to infiltrate our institutions and spread anti-American rhetoric as they often do.
We have disagreements because of our diversity, and this is a good thing, to a point. When the answer to a problem of policy is deadlocked because powers of opposition won't budge, the nation suffers. We see our greatest achievements when all our leaders as well as our citizens come together for a common purpose.
I hope we can find a way to turn the terrorist attack on our homeland and the resultant unification into something positive. Ridding the world of terrorism is admirable but it does not provide the common citizen with an outlet for the positive, constructive energy that we all now share. Flying our flag is terrific, but it is only symbolic.
I have my own ideas about where we as a nation can channel our energy in the most constructive way. It begins in our education system, with our children. We need to teach them what it is to be an American so they can grow up proud of our heritage. If we continue to teach our children that the rich are just greedy, that our forefathers were not men of virtue or character, or that God is just a myth like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, then we will have lost the foundation of our society.
We marked March 11th as a day of remembrance, six months from 9-11. Some of us would like to see some recognition of the 11th of every month. Others feel that much attention to the day will numb people to the horror that occurred. More diversity. Personally, I don't think we need to have organized functions of remembrance on 9-11-02.
Though I think there is one thing we should do. I was so numbed by the image of the twin towers coming down that I could not function at work. I went home and noticed an eerie silence in the air that lasted for days. No vapor trails in the sky. No planes. The silence itself was a constant reminder of what happened to cause it.
There will be nothing more befitting of September 11th than making it a no fly day. I don't think many of us would have a problem giving up flying for that one day every year. I don't think the airline companies will suffer because people will just fly the day before or the day after instead. There would be no need to organize anything. We can mark the day as individuals, each in our own way. You wouldn't even have to take the day off (unless you're a pilot). But whenever you walked outside, the silence in the sky would be a deafening reminder of what day it was, and an appropriate remembrance of those who died.

-DRC