Is "Lest we forget" a good policy?
I don't expect anyone who lost a friend or family member on 9/11 to ever forget. I don't expect anyone who actually witnessed the events to ever forget.
But - that doesn't include someone who knew someone whose cousin went to school with someone who died on 9/11
But - that really doesn't include anyone whose involvement consisted of watching the entire thing on TV.
I'm tired of anyone who has only a tenuous connection to the events demanding that I honor their loss. I think that's an insult to the people who did lose someone that day. And don't tell me all about your PTSD brought on by watching the television.
With those exceptions, should the rest of us be engaging in a policy of never forgetting the events of 9/11? I don't mean recording them in history books, I'm talking about keeping them front and center as a basis for foreign policy. Where would we be today if we had never "forgotten" Pearl Harbor? The USS Arizona is perhaps one of the most poignant memorials I know of, but that doesn't keep us from having Japan as a major ally today. The Vietnam Memorial is in a class all its own, yet American corporations are pouring money into Vietnam. I happen to work with two Vietnam vets who served in combat units and have gone back on company business.
For some of us, what happened is personal and will always leave an open wound. Those people deserve our respect and more importantly, our financial help for injuries connected to that day (I'm thinking especially of those rescue workers now dealing with respiratory issues, etc.) For the rest of us though, sooner or later, it's time to let it go.
