Happy anniversary!

   This year, my wife and I will be celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary. I have loved Vickie for about 9 months longer than that. When it comes to deciding how to celebrate it this year, we are not sure what we will do yet. However, we will make sure it is fun for us, and hopefully include our little girl. In other words, it will be a truly happy occasion.

   On the other hand, there will be a 10th anniversary of a different nature this year, and I am dreading it. I think a lot of other people are as well...yes, the 10th anniversary of the 4th season of "Charmed" is upon us! No, seriously, I am of course referring to the day that has shaped government policy and spending, not to mention the impact on American people's lives, loss of privacy and, for many out there a fear that the enemy was on our soil. There is no sense in denying that September 11, 2001 was a crippling day for our nation. My question is, why relive it?

   Now, I am only 38, and therefore I have seen what I consider to be a small amount of historical experiences when compared to the experiences of others older than myself. In my lifetime, I have seen a President shot, a near-World War 3 panic when a Korean airliner was shot down by the Soviets, my favorite weatherman Jim O'Brien killed in a parachuting accident (my PA friends should remember that time!), the shuttel Challenger exploding, the Iran-Contra hearings that interrupted my game shows in 1987, the Berlin Wall coming down and later the fall of the Soviet Union, Iraq's invasion of Kuwait that ended decent gasoline prices forever, the retirement of Johnny Carson, the cancellation of the Tempestt Bledsoe talk show and, in 2001, the destruction of the twin towers in New York City as well as a secondary crash into the Pentagon. I later got to enjoy the capture of Saddam Hussein and death of Osama Bin Laden.

   OK, I guess I've seen a lot after all, and will experience more events that shape our world. If I really wanted to be smarmy, I'd claim that I saw Watergate unravel before my eyes, but since I was an infant and toddler at the time, I don't recall, and that's what my lawyer told me to say! No, actually, my world view began around the time Reagan was elected and the hostages in Iran were released.

   This September, I am sure there will be dedications, speeches, new walls erected, and other memorial efforts to make sure we do not forget 9/11. How can we forget? Ask anyone about to fly on a commercial jet if they forget 9/11 as they are being strip-searched because a nail clipper was found in their carry-on bag. Chances are, they have a good recollection. Ask our beloved soldiers (and I do mean that sincerely) if they have forgotten that day.

   Let me be clear right now: I know that loved ones were lost in that tragedy (and to call it a tragedy is a severe understatement), and I will never demean their memories. If we lost our daughter, it would be a permanent hole in our hearts that could never be healed. It has occurred to me, however, especially when the smoke cleared, that there were probably some people who lost their lives that were not good people. This was Wall Street, after all. It is quite possible that some dishonest traders lost their lives prior to losing clients' life savings. It does not make the deaths justified, but I bet that never dawned on anyone but maybe a dozen or so people besides me (I always fall into that minority!).

   I guess the real question on 9/11/11, in my mind anyway, will be this: have we moved on as a nation? Have we banded together as a whole to conquer the evil that struck us and emerge victorious? Sadly, the answer is no. People are going crazy out there. Lost jobs, home foreclosures, military families separated from their loved ones, and an endless barrage of Federal fighting amongst themselves in D.C. are turning people against their neighbors and sometimes loved ones. I'm scared, to be honest! I could go to the store tomorrow and get broadsided by a car driven by a person who just lost their home.

   So, I'll stay home and watch some "Gunsmoke", or maybe "All in the Family" (I do stick to classics). Whatever tragedies happen on these shows, they are usually resolved and rarely if ever spoken of again. To throw another ball from left field, look at Japan. We nuked them twice in 1945. I wonder if they memorialized  those bombings every year or ten years? I suspect they didn't. I listen for their stories on my Japanese-made stereo or watch for them on my Japanese-made TV. I think, somehow, they moved on economically and spiritually.

   To conclude, let 9/11/11 be a day where we can vow as a nation to move to the future together instead of looking back in rage just to have an excuse to be angry. Happy Anniversary! I mean it!