Written by: Tom Sawyer

What is it with us and negative historical events?

For some twisted, sadistic, reason our country enjoys basking in negative events and treats them with some sick reverence. I don’t mean to minimize certain tragedies, but America has this infatuation with using these events to profit, as a crutch, as a time reference or to create a buzz. You may be wondering where this is coming from and I am more than happy to explain.

The Profit

I was just watching TV and a commercial came on for some kind of silver $20 bar – similar to a commorative coin set or something. The value of this bar is $20, so instead of having $20 on it, they had what adds up to $20: “9″ and “11.” According to the commercial, this bar has been produced like this to commemorate the 7th anniversary of 9/11. Did I miss something and a 7th anniversary means something special? 30 years from now will we pull out a silver bar and tell our great-grandchildren that we have this keepsake to let us remember what 9/11 felt like? Stupid.

Don’t get me wrong and think I’m not patrotic or I don’t care about those impacted (all of us). I think something this monumentally tragic shouldn’t be made to feel special. I especially feel this way with our young men and women fighting abroad while some company is pushing a silver bar. Good job. We need to remember this incident was more than a way to make money. This event changed our lives forever and there is still someone out there with a debt to pay for it.

The Crutch

How many of you have heard something like, “Since 9/11……” You can fill in the blank with “I didn’t do this”, “Such and such hasn’t been the same” or whatever someone can think up. Why do we have to use this as a crutch and associate it with things that don’t even have anything to do with it? It is a big fat cop out and we need to re-evaluate or moral system and do better. Yes, it is an issue of morals to me. If your dog died because you let him off his leash and he got hit by a truck, don’t go telling your neighbor, “Traffic hasn’t been the same in the neighborhood since 9/11.” All the ills of our society have not been caused by 9/11!

The Time Reference and Buzz

I currently live in Mississippi and the other day someone asked me how long I’ve been here. When I told them the response was, “So you got here after Katrina.” While I don’t think it is horrible, can’t we use something different as a reference point for time? It says something about what is at the forefront of people’s minds. To make matters even worse, hurricane season is now sensationalized.

I wish you could all see a weather forcast or just have casual conversation with someone from this area. Hurricanes are nothing to play with – Katrina made this obvious. But they aren’t anything to get excited about (in a good way) either. If I didn’t know any better, from listening to some people around here I would think Hurricane season was some great big party from June to November each year. I’m all for giving the season the respect it is due and planning accordingly, but it isn’t something to look forward to.

The Solution

The solution is simple: we must remember past events, but keep them in perspective. I could make excuses because of the color of my skin, the fact that I’m a male, the small town I’m from, how much money we had growing up or anything else I can imagine. But when it boils all down to it we have to do what it is we do to move on – pray, mourn, grieve, etc. – for our own good. I’m not saying we should forget, I’m just saying we have complicated things in life so much so that we can’t afford to be marking time and using these things as we wish/out of context.

Tags: 9/11, Hurricane, Katrina, perspective, reverence, sensationalize, stupid

This entry was posted on Monday, August 25th, 2008 at 12:01 am and is filed under Random Buzz. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.