The one-year anniversary of Sept. 11 is here, and once again our country is being bombarded. This time, it's not by terrorists on airplanes but by news coverage, infotainment television, albums, songs and printed media pertaining to last year's attacks and the perpetrators, victims and heroes involved.
The "Big Four" networks are all devoting their airtime to Sept.11-related programming Wednesday. The programs range from news shows to documentaries and a "Concert for America" on NBC.
Numerous albums can be found in stores that feature patriotic and pro-American songs as well as rehashes of classic patriotic songs.
Stores are lined with books of Sept. 11 pictures, stories from survivors of the tragic events, stories from the family members of victims and other pro-America books. The magazine racks are covered with Sept. 11 special editions and Sept. 11-related cover stories.
Indeed, the events of Sept. 11 are tragic, and we must remember those who died in the events, as well as the people who are out there trying to prevent similar attacks from occurring. But in the media's push to present every person's story from every angle, we are becoming overexposed and desensitized to the events.
After seeing the image of the planes shattering the twin towers of the World Trade Center so many times on Sept. 11 and in later television specials, the event seems like nothing more than a special effect in a movie.
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There are only so many times you can hear the family of Mike Spann talking about their son, the first casualty in the War on Terror.
Even the phrase "Let's roll!" seems to weaken every time we hear it.
I know there are people reading this article who will disagree with me, saying the magic of all of these stories and others has not waned. I am proud of those people. Maybe I am not as sentimental and as caring as those people.
Yet it seems that none of our holidays designed to honor our country's heroes receive as much fanfare and importance as the anniversary of Sept. 11 is getting.
A national poll was taken recently, asking Americans if Sept. 11 should be a national holiday. A majority of respondents said no, but it wasn't an overwhelming majority.
I wouldn't mind having Sept. 11 as a national holiday, but I don't think I would make remembering those killed in the attacks a higher priority than getting some extra hours of sleep that day. And I don't think I am the only one who would do that.
I'm sure most students wouldn't mind getting out of class that day. But again, how many of them would spend the day honoring the victims and heroes of 9/11? Besides, how can we expect universities to make Sept. 11 a holiday when most don't even recognize Veterans Day as a holiday?
A Sept. 11 holiday would honor thousands of victims of the attacks and the heroes involved in saving those who were in the fray and defending our country from further attack. But Veterans Day honors tens of thousands of soldiers, some of whom fought in foreign countries for reasons they didn't understand, who also fought to defend our country and our principles.
Tens of thousands of colonial Americans died to liberate our country from Great Britain during the Revolutionary War, but how often do the Big Four networks block off their normal primetime programming to broadcast patriotic programming or stories of American soldiers on Independence Day?
Do you remember a time when the media gave Memorial Day the treatment that 9/11 is currently getting?
The University places an emphasis on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, when most if not all University services shut down for a three-day weekend, while Veterans' Day and Memorial Day are all but ignored. Martin Luther King Jr. Day honors one man. His efforts were great, but why not also honor the efforts of hundreds of thousands of soldiers throughout America's history?
Sept. 11, 2001, will always be an important day in history, and perhaps we should set aside a day to remember the civilians, policemen, firefighters, rescue workers and others who died saving people or survived after all the hell that came down that day, as well as the military and security personnel who are out there preventing a repeat of the attacks.
Whether the day will eventually become a holiday remains to be seen. But in the meantime, let us not forget our military heroes who have defended our homeland and our freedom since our country's inception.
It is our duty to honor all heroes.
By Jon Gargis
U-Wire
