Six Years Later, Are People 9/11'd Out?

The other day, the NY Times examined the various feelings about September 11 commemoration events, as next Tuesday is the sixth anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks, and the interesting phenomenon of tragedy fatigue. One woman, whose opinion wasn't that uncommon, said, "Doesn’t grieving have a shelf life? We’re very sorry and mournful that people died, but there are living people. Let’s wind it down.” Perhaps that's why some people get frustrated when they hear about families being unhappy with ceremony changes.

But what do those families, the ones who have lost a loved one on that day? Well, they are divided, too. One woman who lost her brother told the Times, "I would no sooner tell survivors of the Holocaust how to mourn or how to commemorate their atrocity, so why do others feel they have any right to dictate how family members should feel or memorialize our loved ones on Sept. 11 or any day, for that matter." But one widow said, "I still get so many letters from people that even I suffer from 9/11 fatigue to some extent. People who don’t want to do anything on 9/11, they shouldn’t be forced to. I never thought I’d say that.”

Are you tired of events remembering September 11? Or do you think there should be other meaningful ways of remembering the day?

Photograph of a World Trade Center mural by wallyg on Flickr

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By Jen Chung in News on September 4, 2007 4:43 PM

Comments [rss]

drtmuir

I think "moving on" from tragedy must entail some kind of addressing of the physical, environmental after-effects of the loss, and the sources of the loss, and we have done neither. We have no memorial, we are cutting off our civil liberties to spite our faces, we are making war on the wrong people, and we have squandered the world's compassion and good will.

Is it our own fault for enabling insane policies? For enshrining a super-capitalist society that will never see the attack site in any other terms than dollars and cents?

guest

I don't think it's a question of mourning, it's a the fact that we are still under attack from radical muslim extremists and we cannot EVER forget or we will lose America as we know it.

Professor Walmart

Mourn however you want. The problem is the victims' families invoking 9/11 to justify really unreasonable demands -- like ignoring safety codes and holding the memorial at Ground Zero, now an active work site.

We should have moved on at least somewhat by now. Especially when we stop to consider that this single act of mass murder has been used for four-plus years to justify a protracted killing spree in Iraq, equivalent in terms of casualties to a 9/11 every day for at least half a year.

guest

In a word - NO.

That said, it is time for the pols - especially Guilianni and GW to stop exploiting those who suffered.

I can't believe the morons outside nyc who believe Guilianni is some kind of hero.

guest

It is time to MOVE ON and stop being professional martyrs and career victims.

Mike D

I meant here. Still early. Need to wake up.

Mike D

I did live hear at the time and would rather not be forced to think about it by overblown media events every year. Let people grieve and try to move on in peace.

S.D.

J_D, Hey! It's my day off!

Bored at work?

jammer

go back to the hole you came from. all of you. none of you lived here at the time and yet have the nerve to comment on all of this.

i agree that maybe the coverage is a bit overblown and maybe some of the ceremony too, but if you lived here at the time you might feel a bit different.

[7] Posted by: guest | September 4, 2007 8:41 PM

a bit presumptuous, don't you think? jackass.

guest

I am defintely tired of the coverage and the overblown memorials that are more like parades then memorials. I have planned my last three vacations to coincide with the "rememberance" so that I don't have to be bombarded coverage that has just become a political tool to make certain people and groups look better.

Jan Dembowski

People are 9/11'd out alright.

It's been six years and what has been accomplished? Every group with a stake in 9/11 can't agree on design, memorial, name order, etc. But politicians sure keep using 9/11 to get elected (here's hoping that that strategy backfires and we actually elect people who solve problems instead of marketing them).

If people want to have a memorial fine, please do, and we should all respect that. But we should all respect that the time for mourning is long over and people need to move on and start building.

#31 said:
But I'm working on it...

Work harder :) and get back to work.

Reality Czech

forget them already. They had their memorial service for five years, that's enough. Grieve in your own home now, it's time to move on.

S.D.

#27 said:
SD doesn't understand comedy shows on the BBC either.
But I'm working on it...

guest

I will mark the day the same way I do every year - by doing two things that are very meaningful. One, I donate platelets in memory of the lives lost that day. Two, I send a contribution to Tuesday's Children, an amazing organization that is dedicated to helping the children who lost one or two parents that day.

I didn't lose a family member that day, but I was there. I saw it, I smelled it, I escaped it. The time has come for the organized public remembrances to end, though the private ones will rightfully continue inside all of us forever more.

guest

I'm just sick of the same tired of the NY Public Library using 9/11 as an excuse to search my bags when I enter the library. And the cops as an excuse to search me when I enter the subway. and read all my mail listen to all my conversations and monitor any transaction I might make. Oh yeah using 9/11 as an excuse to murder tens of thousands of children in the middle east. Go back to your culture of masturbation, I know you don't care trolls.

guest

I'm going to mark 9/11 by downing a 12-pack of PBR and watching videos on the net of people falling out of the towers. I love the way some of them flail about while falling and others just kind of float down to the ground like a leaf in autumn.

guest

SD doesn't understand comedy shows on the BBC either.

S.D.

# 22 Said:
If you were still mourning this publicly for a relative or spouse that died in a car accident people would look at you like you're nuts.
Likely, but 9/11 wasn't an accident it was mass murder. I'm not sure anyone really knows how react.

(sigh)

#23, BF Larkin, You kidding right? No Shit, Really? They stayed in hotels?

Stop the Presses! At long last The Real reason for 9/11 has been revealed! It wasn't the Flight training, It wasn't the security at the Gate, Nor the lack of secure doors on the jets (despite recommendations of the Flight 800 report), It was the HOTELS!

And for $49.11 Only, I too can join that "organization"? Oh Wow! $49.11? Can that Opportunistic Web site try to Leverage the 9/11 attacks any more??

I was really touched by this part of the site:
To commemorate 9/11, new members pay a special introductory rate of $49.11 in September, 2007. Join now!
Ok, I'm just Dying to know: How would a "Hotel Security Specialist" (WTF is that exactly?!) have saved the day?

Background Security Checks on Guests?

Listening devices in the Rooms?

Ethnic profiling?

I know! Follow guests around and Spy on them! Remember "If you see something, Say Something"...

Could that web site be a any more offensive? Images of the burning towers on the ID Card?

Let me be diplomatic: Are you Fucking kidding??

2,603 people died and you use it for Marketing?

Unbelievable...

guest

#24, that's the smartest thing I've read on a blog in a long time. seriously.

ebad

How about we mourn our lives from before that day rather then remembering what is, in the globally historical sense, a very small number of lives lost? i.e. "I wish that they didn't look at me funny when I get on a plane," or "I wish the government still gave substantial financial aid to poor kids," or even, "remember when we weren't killing Iraqis?!"