This Should Be Popular

I think I may be the only person in the country who thinks it's really disturbing to see adults forcing kids as young as five or six to recognize moments of silence on September 11th. It's kind of becoming a weird traditional thing, and I really hope it doesn't last, because it's fucking creepy.

If you want to have a moment or two of silence every time the calendar reads 9/11, that's absolutely fine. Personally, I don't commemorate the dates of unpleasant events. Anniversaries should be a way of remembering what we want to remember, not an excuse to wallow in what we couldn't forget if we wanted to. But that's just me; if you find value in a day of mourning, by all means, have at it.

It's something else entirely, however, to force that kind of morbidity on children who weren't old enough or even alive to remember the day you're commemorating. To those kids, 9/11 is history that they don't really understand. They didn't experience the shock that the rest of us did, and they're not old enough to understand the implications. Making them observe moments of silence is like making them recognize the anniversary of Pearl Harbor. Frankly, it comes across as adults looking to validate their own feelings by artificially instilling them in children.

Look, I realize that this is still a sensitive issue. I know a number of observers would argue that they aren't commemorating the date or the attacks, but honoring those who died. But after seven years, maybe it's time to have some perspective. To those who lost family members in the attacks, my heart truly does go out, but no more than it does to anyone who loses family in a tragedy. I respect the courage and determination of the rescue workers who risked, and in some cases, gave their lives to save others. But are, say, wildfire fighters in California, who risk and give the same, less worthy of my respect simply because wildfires aren't set by terrorists? Again, I don't have a problem with adults remembering things however they choose, but this shit is confusing to little kids. Why does little Tommy's uncle, who died in the World Trade Center, get a special day, but little Mikey's aunt, who died in a car accident, doesn't? Are Mikey's vague childhood memories of love for his aunt less valid than Tommy's recollections of his uncle? Why does Mikey observe silence for the day Tommy's uncle died, but the opposite isn't true? Neither Tommy nor Mikey were old enough to actually remember the events of September 11th, 2001. Their memories are their own, and we can't impose our own on them. All we can do is confuse them about death and the relative value of human life.