Reflections more private than public
by Bernie Scheffler, editor-in-chief

    If you are tired of news stories about the first anniversary of Sept. 11, you’re not alone.

   I think if I hear or read one more sentence that calls Americans to “remember and reflect on how our world has changed,” I may give up on journalism completely.

   It’s not that I disagree with those statements; I simply cannot believe that anyone needs to be reminded about what happened a year ago today.

   Sure, in a lot of ways life eventually went back to normal for most people. American flags are back in stock at the flag stores and sales of Lee Greenwood CDs have dropped off a little. Most of the buildings around the World Trade Center have been repaired. That doesn’t mean people are forgetting, though.

   When I see pictures of New York without the twin towers, I remember watching them fall. Air travel has changed dramatically. The stock market has seen a steady decline (although that only began in response to Sept. 11; corporate criminals are responsible for the rest).

   Our president is even drumming up support for a declaration of war on long-time rival Iraq as part of his ongoing “war on terrorism.”

   All these things remind me of that tragedy on a daily basis. I don’t think I need a reporter weepily telling me to reflect and remember because things have changed. I’m already doing that.

   If there is somebody out there not doing that, he or she is not reading the news or watching it on TV anyway. Clearly, he or she has no idea what is going on in the world today.

   Hopefully, next year the media will not bury us in overly dramatic and sappy stories about the anniversary.

   The event was dramatic enough as it was. The entire country and most of the world, not just New York, was changed as a direct result of it.

   Like any world-altering event, this one will be stamped in people’s memories indefinitely. We can’t look at current events and forget what happened to shape the world we live in.

   Rather than rehash what happened a year ago, we should just view that terrible day with respect and see what we can do to move on.