“Genuine tragedies in the world are not conflicts between right and wrong. They are conflicts between two rights.” -Christian Friedrich Hebbel

I debated the ways I would commemorate this. Perhaps I should put a blog discussing some other event from the same day with less media attention into the spotlight or send up a piece filled with my memories of the day on Moodspins. I considered a sharply worded column deriding the cable news and the NYTimes for having so many “are we overdoing our remembrance?” articles. Of course you can always post a heartfelt story about someone you know that has died either in the initial attack or the conflicts that followed.

By late morning I still hadn’t given much thought to today until my friend called for my opinion on all the different approaches the networks were taking. The Today Show chose to talk about Britney Spears being fat (then we wonder why young girls have eating disorders—she looked fine), some networks aired their footage from that day, and I’m sure they all showed some sort of gathering of people–remembering. There were other bloggers that took the approach I’d pondered and chose to ignore it…or ignore it by making appoint of saying “I’m ignoring it”.

The separation of having someone ask me what I thought was the right thing to do in this situation was probably what I needed the most. Different people deal with tragedy in different ways and none of them are wrong. I was reminded of the decision to not play NFL games that weekend and the debate that ensued. This is just that same argument we had and will continue to have until we each quietly come to terms with what occurred six years ago.

I heard one person say that they were beginning to cry more frequently as the approaching day became more central in their mind. My mom and I were watching United 93 until the last thirty minutes when she decided she’d rather finish it alone (I’d already seen it). There was talk about whether or not we should make it a national day of remembrance or if we should even continue to publicly remember at all.

I’m not going to cry today when thinking about what happened. I won’t be sullen and unable to smile or laugh. I’ll probably be slightly annoyed by reports about the war or the occasional human interest story I’ll see about children that were born on this day and if I see Ann Coulter crossing the street I’ll probably run her down…

Gradually it’ll become just another day, or maybe just another day off of work, because how many people still cry on the anniversary of Kennedy’s death or the day of the Oklahoma City Bombings? But how many of those same people that lived through and were touched by those tragedies can’t tell you where they were or what they were doing?

The day we eventually stop talking about it or stop fearing whether or not it’s too soon to mention it, forget to mention it, or politicize it will not be the day we’ve stopped caring about those we’ve lost. It’s a tragedy that will be a part of us whether we like it or not and we are hundreds of thousands of lives fewer for it.

Perhaps a good way to remember 9/11 is to remember that different people deal with tragedy in different ways. Different media outlets will think it’s proper to remember one way rather than another and every news station/individual will think they were the one that got it right.

I hope you all continue to remember in your own way.

Cedric King writes frequently for his personal blog here. You can e-mail him at LCKv3D@gmail.com or take AIM at LCKv4.

Last 5 posts by Cedric King

• MCS: Congressional Approval Ratings - September 18th, 2007
• MCS: Bin Laden's Message - September 8th, 2007
• MCS: States Aren't Humans - August 22nd, 2007
• MCS: Acting Affirmatively Toward Racial Inequality - August 7th, 2007
• A Global Look: Cuba - August 1st, 2007