Monday, September 11, 2006
Tragedy Makes You Feel Better
So, today at work I was filling out something and I had to ask what today's date was.
Someone was like..."Hello?"
What? Is it a holiday or something?
"It's 9-11".
Right... Is there a reason that we as a country celebrate tragedies? Today is the 5th anniversary of 9/11. Last week was one year since Hurricane Katrina. Where were you when JFK was shot? When Pearl Harbor was bombed?
What about something fun? Like, did anybody celebrate Grandparent's Day on Sunday? That's more fun to call up Grandma and chat than say, remembering when my grandpa died (which coincidentally also happened on September 10th) and moping around.
Dying and suffering happens everyday. Why don't we stop thinking about yesterday and take some action to help people today? What about people in the Sudan? Or just about anybody in Africa? People in Nicaragua? Nepal? Oh, wait, who cares? At least their not American, right? Fortunately, nothing bad ever happens here except for those huge tragedies that were totally out of our hands, causing us to be victims. I'm sure glad I live here. Let's take a minute to remember those less fortunate so we can feel better about our situation.
And what about the troops that are in Afganistan, Iraq, and everywhere else in the world? They're out there dying right now. Almost 2700 in the Iraq war and 300 in Afghanistan. Do we have a day to commemorate them? Nope, they didn't all die at the same time, so it's not a newsworthy tragedy. Or, they're not victims like the people in the WTC, because they volunteered to defend our freedom knowing each morning, there was a chance they might die that day.
Katrina? Why did we commemorate that? I think what it accomplished was to show just how big a problem poverty is in this country. The ones who died there? The ones who couldn't afford to leave. The ones who are suffering right now? The ones who cannot afford to rebuild their lives. I mean look, they were able to rebuild the Superdome. Now the rich people who had insurance and money to rebuild can forget about the poor people while they watch football.
Okay, well, it turns out I'm a little more opinionated than I thought when I started this post and I'm getting out of control here. Anyway, I guess in summary here.... 9/11 is just another day on the calendar to me. We need to do more to prevent the small everyday tragedies here in our country and around the world that don't necessarily get any attention.
Someone was like..."Hello?"
What? Is it a holiday or something?
"It's 9-11".
Right... Is there a reason that we as a country celebrate tragedies? Today is the 5th anniversary of 9/11. Last week was one year since Hurricane Katrina. Where were you when JFK was shot? When Pearl Harbor was bombed?
What about something fun? Like, did anybody celebrate Grandparent's Day on Sunday? That's more fun to call up Grandma and chat than say, remembering when my grandpa died (which coincidentally also happened on September 10th) and moping around.
Dying and suffering happens everyday. Why don't we stop thinking about yesterday and take some action to help people today? What about people in the Sudan? Or just about anybody in Africa? People in Nicaragua? Nepal? Oh, wait, who cares? At least their not American, right? Fortunately, nothing bad ever happens here except for those huge tragedies that were totally out of our hands, causing us to be victims. I'm sure glad I live here. Let's take a minute to remember those less fortunate so we can feel better about our situation.
And what about the troops that are in Afganistan, Iraq, and everywhere else in the world? They're out there dying right now. Almost 2700 in the Iraq war and 300 in Afghanistan. Do we have a day to commemorate them? Nope, they didn't all die at the same time, so it's not a newsworthy tragedy. Or, they're not victims like the people in the WTC, because they volunteered to defend our freedom knowing each morning, there was a chance they might die that day.
Katrina? Why did we commemorate that? I think what it accomplished was to show just how big a problem poverty is in this country. The ones who died there? The ones who couldn't afford to leave. The ones who are suffering right now? The ones who cannot afford to rebuild their lives. I mean look, they were able to rebuild the Superdome. Now the rich people who had insurance and money to rebuild can forget about the poor people while they watch football.
Okay, well, it turns out I'm a little more opinionated than I thought when I started this post and I'm getting out of control here. Anyway, I guess in summary here.... 9/11 is just another day on the calendar to me. We need to do more to prevent the small everyday tragedies here in our country and around the world that don't necessarily get any attention.
