Fünf Jahre

Over five years later, it's odd to think about September 11th. It's strange to think that it was five years ago. One of the things about it personally is the fact that I had graduated the May before it happened. That means it's been over five years since I've graduated high school. Anxiously we spend our whole lives with the goal in mind: that fine, glorious day when we take our last breaths as charges of the local school district (I had considered writing "scool" as a bit of irony, but decided against it [then again, I did just do it] ) and are no longer governed by others concerning our scholastic well-being. I have accomplished the goal. The main effort was simply enduring time and certainly not any amply mental exertion. And yet I took a good deal of pride when I walked across that platform.

Now I am at the crest of college graduation. With a single class left to take and having taken a full time position, I consider myself functionally finished with college. Four or five more years down the road I may very well find myself returning for my Master's, but right now I'm done. I don't plan on going back to school and walking to get my degree documentation. Last year I watched as my class walked and that was good enough for me (when, in fact, was actually the class after mine, but I came in with them [oh the joys of community college] ).

Speaking of September 11th (we were?), it's a bit strange that "September 11th" is the accepted name across the world's collective unconscious (thanks, Jungy). Not "Manhattan attacks," not "the World Trade Center Disaster," or "the day the earth stood still," just simply "September 11th." It was such a momentous occasion that it needs no other clarification. Occasionally it is referred to as September 11th, 2001, but this is mostly unnecessary. Any other past events that happened will forever live in the shadow of this one gargantuan event. C'mon, other Sep. 11th happenings, get with program.

Are there any other events that are so world-shaking they are simply known by the day on which it happened? Nothing comes to mind. December 7th is well known as the day of the bombing of Pearl Harbor (only if you paid attention in your history classes) but the accepted name for this event is "Pearl Harbor" not "December 7th." I of course could be missing some, but my point is this: five years later it's easy to brush it under our mental rugs. It was, after all, five years ago. It is the Pearl Harbor of our generation. But it really trumps Pearl Harbor in the fact that the attack on December 7th, 1941 was on military units, whereas Sep. 11 was an attack on civilian units and rescue workers. Over the course of the past five years we've all heard the observations and comparisons so I won't rehash it.

A few days after it happened, the country was still more or less shut down. Shops were beginning to reopen and the news reports (which we were all watching night and day) advised against travel and going to places with large gatherings of people. My family and I took our lives in our own hands and we went to Silver Dollar City in Southern Missouri (almost an amusement park like Worlds of Fun or Six Flags but with much less rollercoasters and much more food and hillbilly atmosphere). Every year for ten years (maybe longer) we headed down there and that year wasn't going to be any different. The thing I noticed first about the trip were the flags.

Remember when everybody had flags flying? The park had a row of maybe forty or fifty in a row as you walked in. In place of the normal hillbilly music in the loudspeakers, patriotic themes were blasting as the flags waved. I remember feeling my heart swell a bit and a tear came to my eye. I say all of this to bring up the thing that I've actually been thinking about lately:

Remember when patriotism was a fad?