11 Years: 9/11

From Yahoo:

"For Sept. 11 anniversary, a turning point passed?"

Americans paused again Tuesday to mark the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks with familiar ceremony, but also a sense that it's time to move forward after a decade of remembrance. As in past years, thousands were expected to gather at the World Trade Center site in New York, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pa., to read the names of nearly 3,000 victims killed in the worst terror attack in U.S. history. President Barack Obama was to attend the Pentagon memorial, and Vice President Joe Biden was to speak in Pennsylvania. But many felt that last year's 10th anniversary was an emotional turning point for public mourning of the attacks. For the first time, elected officials weren't speaking at the ceremony, which often allowed them a solemn turn in the spotlight, but raised questions about the public and private Sept. 11. "I feel much more relaxed" this year, said Jane Pollicino, who came to ground zero Tuesday morning to remember her husband, who was killed at the trade center. "After the ninth anniversary, that next day, you started building up to the 10th year. This feels a lot different, in that regard. It's another anniversary that we can commemorate in a calmer way, without that 10-year pressure."  In previous years, thousands of family members would attend the ceremony at ground zero. Fewer than 200 family members, clutching balloons, flowers and photos of their loved ones, had gathered by Tuesday morning at the Sept. 11 memorial, which opened to the public a year ago. Commuters rushed out of the subway and fewer police barricades were in place than in past years in the lower Manhattan neighborhood surrounding ground zero. President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama plan to attend the Pentagon ceremony and visit wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Biden and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar are expected to speak at the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, at the site where the hijacked United Airlines plane went down. The National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum — led by Mayor Michael Bloomberg as its board chairman — announced in July that this year's ceremony would include only relatives reading victims' names. The point, memorial President Joe Daniels said, was "honoring the victims and their families in a way free of politics" in an election year. Some victims' relatives and commentators praised the decision. "It is time" to extricate Sept. 11 from politics, the Boston Globe wrote in an editorial.

But others said keeping politicians off the rostrum smacked of ... politics.

^ While I can understand the families wanting a more personal and politics-free memorial I get the feeling that many ordinary Americans have "moved-on" and do not want to remember what happened. Just like the soldiers who continue to die and get wounded in Afghanistan the events of 9/11 seem to be a thing of the ancient past. It has only been 11 years and yet you would think it had been 100. This time last year nearly all my friends (over 100) on Facebook posted something whereas so far today only two (of course I did.) It seems that the whole country has ADHD and can only focus on things for a second before moving on to the next. I know there are many events and things to deal with in life, but certain events - such as 9/11 - should always be in the back of our mind. Everything we do today can be traced back to that day 11 years ago. When you go to an airport, take a train, go to a state or Federal building, watch the news, get a driver's license and do hundreds of other everyday things you are doing things that were and continue to be impacted by 9/11. I can understand people not wanting to have the events thrown at them overtly everyday, but I can't understand why, on the anniversary, people can't stop and openly remember. ^

http://news.yahoo.com/sept-11-anniversary-turning-point-passed-071008625.html