At least until 9/11 which seems to be the end of these days, but in its own way, it may also be the worst. I can tell you that I don't remember very much about 9/11/01 except that my class wasn't allowed to listen to the news broadcasts on the radio and were forced instead to pretend it was a normal day, instead of a national tragedy. This, I think is why I still have a hard time dealing with what happened in New York all those years ago. I can't imagine what it must have been like to be a helpless civilian watching what may very well have been the end of the world. At the time, I think I was too young, and too uninformed to truly understand the gravity of what was happening. How do you explain to a ten year old what a terrorist attack is, what's happened and what it means for the future? Especially when it seemed like that last question was the one on everyone's mind...
When I heard that NBC didn't observe the moment of silence to remember 9/11, I was sad and disgusted. People still put out flags and observe D-Day which happened nearly 70 years ago, and a news network, of all things, can't observe a moment of silence for the worst terror attack in US history which happened a mere 11 years ago??? Seriously? Maybe it's just me, but it seems like 9/11 is a day for respect, no matter how many years have gone by, or what pop culture might find currently but temporarily important.
I know I can already feel my cynical scrooge-ish version of myself coming out for the holidays, and I know this year is going to be especially hard because of the loss of my grandmother. Maybe I'm negatively biased to this situation, but it makes me nauseous and hate humanity and the looming holidays more than I normally already do.
