9/11-The Day Which Changed America

By Effey

Once again we commemorated 9/11.  Once again we were reminded of how 9/11 transformed our lives.

We have quite a number of other occasions too, which we should commemorate, because thousands of Americans lost their lives on those occasions, December 7th, 1941, the day Japan attacked the United States Fleet at Pearl Harbor and triggered the second war of the 1940's, the Pacific War.

D-Day, June 6, 1944, the day when we invaded Europe to fight Nazi Germany, which had conquered most of Western Europe and was even threatening the United States.  Thousands of our troops lost their lives on that day and even more came home crippled for life.

But how do we commemorate those events?  By having major stores having big sales on those days and families having picnics on those days! 

Somewhere there is something wrong with this form of commemoration!  These anniversaries are not joyous occasions!  They are sad and somber days, which affected millions of American and their families.  Don't we owe more to the many who lost their lives in those battles?

And yes, there is also the Holocaust which cost 10 million victims to lose their lives.  It was not just the genocide of Jews.  It also affected disabled and chronically ill people.  It affected people who spoke out against the events of the time and millions more.

In Israel the government created a special Day of Remembrance, called "Yom HaShoah", which is the day the concentration camps of Germany were liberated.  On Yom HaShoah at 12 noon all sirens wail throughout Israel, traffic comes to a halt for one minute, people get out of their vehicles and stand in silence next to their vehicles.

In Germany many people wear black clothes and go to the cemeteries to put flowers on the graves of what seem to be the graves of soldiers (not necessarily their relatives). 

Is it asking too much to commemorate the lives of those who fought and died for our freedom in a more somber way than having picnics and sales?  Are we really that jaded?