Perhaps I have been living in a deep, dark cave for the past several years. Or I've been dwelling in the relatively open-minded, free-thinking bubble that is the Silicon Valley. Whatever the case, I only recently realized we are now supposed to refer to 9/11 as Patriot Day.
It all started earlier last week. I was on my way to pick M up from preschool and I happened to pass an elementary school with one of those digital, scrolling signs out front. Seeing as how I was at a red light, I idly watched as the messages flashed onto and disappeared from the screen. But one in particular caused me to sit up and take notice. It read, in all caps:
PATRIOT DAY ON 9/11/2009
BE SURE TO WEAR YOUR RED, WHITE, AND BLUE CLOTHES!
At first, I thought (hoped) the school team was the Patriots and maybe it just so happened that their school spirit day fell on the same day as 9/11. But then, as I passed more schools with similar signs over the next few days...it began to dawn on me that something more was going on. I finally asked someone and she looked at me a bit funny and responded, "Well, yeah. 9/11 has been Patriot Day for a while now."
So...
1) How did I miss this?
2) Is it me, or is it odd that schools are honoring/celebrating/whatever you want to call it this tragedy by having kids wear red, white, and blue clothes? Why not take it further and drape them in the American flag, for Christ's sake?
3) While I think it's totally appropriate to commemorate this sad day with solemn reflection and memorial services...I have issues with the fact that we appear to be turning it into an "us against them", proud to be American, Chevy/Ford truck commercial kind of day. It feels way too festive considering what happened on the real 9/11.
Maybe I'm missing the point. But in ways that I can't quite put my finger on...this whole Patriot Day thing bugs the fuck out of me.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
First I've heard about this. It bugs me, too. Maybe I'm too much of New Englander, but the ONLY Patriots' Day I'm every going to celebrate is April 19 (Start of the revolutionary war, 1775). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriots'_Day
ReplyDeleteI just figured this out today on the radio! I grew up on the east coast and celebrated the April Patriot's Day.
ReplyDeleteOdd.
Take a look at our history! We have never missed an opportunity to turn any event into an excuse to lock and load. Have you ever noticed that those nation-states that use the word "peace" way too much really mean war? Since when did a horrific criminal act of mass murder translate itself into an orgy of flag waving? And now we are about to follow Lyndon Obama into the 21st century's version of the Vietnam War. Oh well, the only thing we like more than sending other people's kids into war is building a really cool monument after the carnage is over.
ReplyDelete