I was going to hit the sack early this morning, but the power company’s been trimming trees in my neighborhood for the past week, and they’re chainsawing away as I type right outside my house.  So while I wait for them to finish, I guess I can either work on this week’s comic, or add another rambling post to my blog.  Naturally, I chose the latter…

The world groans….

For better or for worse, I’m going to give a few of my thoughts on the obvious topic of the day, that would be what happened exactly eleven revolutions around the sun ago.

First of all, please quit reminding me to NEVER FORGET the events of 9/11.  I was 26 years old then… I doubt any American born before 1990 will ever be able to forget the events of 9/11.  Please, just stop it already.  It’s all a ploy by the self-righteous out there to look like they care more than you do.  I remember….. do YOU!?!?!?  Screw you.

Second, quit bending over backwards trying to explain the significance of 9/11 to the generation who was too young at the time, or not even born when it happened.  Anyone who didn’t live through the “innocence” prior to 9/11 is never going to be able to appreciate the impact the event it had on those of us who did.  It’s like when your grandpa used to bitch and moan that today’s generation can’t appreciate what Pearl Harbor meant to his peers.  No Gramps, we can’t because we weren’t around then!  No matter how much we learn about Pearl Harbor and the events leading up to and following the attack, it will never mean to us what it meant to you.  In 50 years, this will be the case with 9/11, and you can bet there will be plenty of old, crotchety Gen Xers and Yers who are upset that the significance of September 11th seems lost on the people of 2062.

It’s means more than just getting patdowns from former Burger King grillmeisters, you whippersnappers!

Third, September 11th has now become the second date on the calendar that has ceased to exist as just a date on the calendar.  Its meaning is universal, just like the Fourth of July.  You can’t even mention the date casually without the attacks popping into the minds of everyone who hears it.  Again, how can we FORGET something that will never go away in our minds…

Fourth, do they refer to it as 11/9 in England?

The only British looking image I have on file….

Fifth, for those who want to make 9/11 an official holiday…. take it from someone who works in retail, you don’t want that.  Seriously, you don’t.  Thirty years from now, there would be yearly 9/11 sales.  If you have a day off, we want you in our stores while you are honoring whatever it is you are taking off for….

Sixth, regardless of how it appears, I am certainly not trying to trivialize what took place 11 years ago.  It was the landmark moment of my generation, what the Kennedy assassination was to my parents’ generation.  The fact that I don’t drown myself in sorrow on the anniversary like others do doesn’t mean the terrorists have won.  Just the opposite… I have extended the middle finger to them and moved on.  Fuck you, al Qaida!  I’m going to continue living my life in this great country of ours, and if we had even close to the morals you douchebags had, we’d have turned your precious desert into a mirror by now.  I’m over it, and I have defeated you….

We Stand Defiant

Take a moment to remember the victims and heroes of 9/11.  Then go about your day as if September 11th was just another day on the calendar again.  That’s the American thing to do….