Remembering 9/11. Quietly.

© David Hartman

     I was offended Friday night when I went to Quail Springs Mall on my lunch break. On every table down in the food court were little paper advertising tents urging me to develop a plan for how I was going to celebrate the 10th anniversary of 9/11. The tents encouraged me to take up a cause, post on Facebook and other social media and essentially make a public spectacle of the milestone anniversary.
     I'll do none of that, thank you very much.
     I know I'm in the minority here. I don't really care. 
     Unless I spend the days leading up to 9/11 under a rock, I have no doubt I'll know the significance of Sunday, September 11.
     The local car dealer on Broadway that lowers its dozens of large flags for any remotely sad reason whatsoever surely will remind me.
     The media, more adept at creating news than reporting it, won't let me forget, either. Already, this weekend's edition of "USA Today" was page after page after page after page of 9/11 filler. Nine days out. Page after page after page. What is next weekend's paper gonna be like?

Knock yourself out. But I'll pass.

     Let's just hope the Pope doesn't die or the president doesn't get shot next Saturday. Would hate for newspaper editors all over the country to wrestle with the agonizing decision of what goes above the fold Sunday: old news or new news?
     Folks are going to remember however they want to remember. But I will not give any of the still-living terrorists complicit in the events of that day the satisfaction of knowing that I dwell on what they did. I will not extend their 15 minutes of "fame" by another 5,256,000 minutes, and in doing so encourage others who would execute similar attacks on my country.
     Any "remembering" I do will be internal. Externally, I will go about my business as if the day is the same as any other. We'd send a much stronger message to would-be terrorists if everyone in America would do the same. Knowing that most of my friends will disagree and that my Facebook feed will be flooded with post after post about 9/11 and what I should re-post or do if I'm a true American, I'll try to exercise uncharacteristic snark restraint next week.
     But I make no promises.