Time to look at 9/11 another way

Before any one argues with me the title is the words said by a survivor of that tragedy 11 years ago and it got me thinking. Like a lot of people today I have spent at least a moment today reflecting on that day, I couldn't help it, but as a whole I have been trying not to become morose over it.

4 years ago I was on a flight home from Dallas, I had not a bad feeling about coming home on that date, but I was on heightened senses. This was made worse when 2 hours into the flight 4 men locked themselves in the all the loos in economy and caused a queue of agitated passengers. It wasn't long till that annoyance soon changed to panic when they were in there for an excessive amount of time. In the end there was a full blown shouting match between a group of passengers and the cabin crew over it. Now I am nervous flier at the best of times but this was the last thing I needed. We always fly the red eye home and I nearly always don't sleep for the best part of two days because of this, but even I had been given reason to panic. It turned out it was Ramadan and the passengers had been given permission to pray there. Now my gut instinct was, why the hell choose the loos as the offered prayer room, why not at the back of the cabin where it wouldn't have alerted every one to their presence, and cause panic that nearly caused the plane to land in New York. How ever when talking to some Muslim friends after their re action was how inconsiderate of their Muslim counterparts to fly knowing that they had to break fast during the flight with prayer. Either or would have been fine, but the truth is we are never going to erase that fear from people.

How ever we can not let this fear continue to eat at the world society the way it is. There are many good points that have come out of the ashes of that day. Most of us respect and support our armed forces in a way unheard of in my youth. We are a lot more aware and less travelling in our own bubble, and there were great friendships made through loss and actions of hero's. I am not saying forget or anything like that. I am asking we move on and build on the good. There are too many people already struggling with survivor guilt in their lives and does re hashing it every year help them or hinder a hard recovery? Are we actually in danger of cheapen the memory of all those lost by making it an annual event, instead of letting the families deal with it their own way.

Like the hero's of the two world wars and all the events following, these events need to be filed to the memories of  landmark events which made hero's out of normal people and lessons were learn. For as long as there is a human race on this earth there is always going to be war. Utopia will never be anything other than a dream, we just hold the responsibility to learn and move on from our mistakes. So maybe we should stop looking at it as the day the western world got attacked and instead the day the ordinary man showed he could be a hero. Celebrate the lives of those lost and those that survived. For by doing that is far more powerful a weapon to those who were destined to hurt that day. I refuse to say it was done in the name of any God or religious label, in the same way I refuse to acknowledge the deeds done in WWII were done by a christian. As no religion breeds hate that deep or gives carte Blanche to mass murder, that is mans action and choice alone.

So today and in years to come let us light a candle, and give a moments reflection towards the people living or not who became hero's that day. Then honour their memory by moving on and building a better world.