Those messages and sermons never really stay with me after the day has passed. I can't remember any of the names of the victims, terrorists or first responders. It's hard for me to think of any of it when it is mentioned. It makes me feel bad to do so.
It makes me feel bad because the blood didn't stop flowing after the attacks ended in New York City and Washington, D.C.; it continued to flow in our response to our enemies. The death toll of both wars that were started in the names of the victims of Sept. 11 dwarf the amount of people we lost that day. So many people have died because of what happened that day that I shun the anniversary every time it comes around.
What am I supposed to do? Pretend that war didn't follow after the attacks? Lay a flag down on a grave of a victim, hoping that he or she is not ashamed of what we have done in his or her name? I feel bad about what happened that day, just like any other American. I am so grateful for our troops and all that other patriotic stuff. However, I do not ignore where Sept. 11 has led us as a nation. I do not ignore that the blood keeps flowing since that day.
What is the message that I need to understand? Please tell me. Is it to remember the fallen? Is there some type of moral story? Or I am supposed to cry on that day because to not is to be un-American? Just lie to me if you have to, but help me to not feel ashamed at what we have led ourselves to do since Sept. 11, 2001.
I hope you spent Sept. 11, 2011, the way you saw fit — that you honored the fallen the best way you knew how. For me, I prayed that the blood would stop flowing.
— Jose Velez, first-year social work student