9/11 - National Holiday

[applecorped]

Should 9/11 become a national holiday? I say yes.

[applecorped]

Wrong forum. Mods, please move this to appropriate forum.

[LibraryLady]

It's marked on my calendar as a national holiday called, of all things, Patriot's Day.

[applecorped]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriots%27_Day

I think it deserves a seperate day.

[LibraryLady]

I was wrong. It's Patriot Day (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_Day).

[negativ]

I don't think so. The idea seems slightly crass for some reason, though I readily admit I can't begin to explain why.

[WildCat]

Don't government workers get enough days off already?

[applecorped]

Thanks Library.

From the wiki it states that some view celebrating the day as..

"handing the emotional victory over to the terrorists"

How so?

[jaydeehess]

I don't think so. The idea seems slightly crass for some reason, though I readily admit I can't begin to explain why.

Because the mattress sales have not yet become a mainstay on "Patriot Day" perhaps.

What value would there be in giving people a day off work to commemorate 9/11?

I say no to it being a holiday. A day of rememberance yes, a day off work, no. But then I am Canadian and we simply have fewer holidays than the USE in the first place.

[Sword_Of_Truth]

Pearl Harbor, Ghettysburg, The Battle of the Bulge, nor for that matter many other tragic days in US history that I can think of are holidays.

A moment of silence for the fallen is appropriate on that day, but I see no cause for the whole country to take the entire day off.

[jaydeehess]

note: sorry for the typo in my last post.
That of course should be 'USA', not 'USE'.

[MrSangMang]

We do not celebrate the bombing of Pearl Harbor.. why would we "celebrate" 9/11?

The best thing to do on 9/11 is to reflect on that day.. however many years ago (from that time), and carry on as usual. If their "goal" was to disrupt Americans daily lives, then we must oppose that with normalcy.

I would be actively against such a day, if it entailed a day off work or government buildings being closed.

We don't celebrate MLKs assassination, we celebrate his birthday. I just see doing this as an act of celebrating the day that terror struck America.

[Travis]

Funny, my calendars always have December 7th marked as "Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day." How is "Patriot Day" any different?

[jaydeehess]

Funny, my calendars always have December 7th marked as "Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day." How is "Patriot Day" any different?

Is Dec 7th a holiday in the USA?

A 'day of rememberance' is different than a 'holiday'.

In Canada we call Nov 11th "Rememberance Day" , your "Memorial Day" IIRC. There has always been a debate as to whether or not it should be a day off. My personal belief is that it should not be. The sentiment is good but we all know that most people will simply see it as a day off work/school and not bother to use the time to remember the sacrifice of the dead.

Notice any "Memorial Day" specials at the local furniture store? Just how would that honour the dead?


Now I also note that this is probably not the right forum for this topic.

[LibraryLady]

Is Dec 7th a holiday in the USA?

A 'day of rememberance' is different than a 'holiday'.

In Canada we call Nov 11th "Rememberance Day" , your "Memorial Day" IIRC. There has always been a debate as to whether or not it should be a day off. My personal belief is that it should not be. The sentiment is good but we all know that most people will simply see it as a day off work/school and not bother to use the time to remember the sacrifice of the dead.

Notice any "Memorial Day" specials at the local furniture store? Just how would that honour the dead?


Now I also note that this is probably not the right forum for this topic.

November 11=Veterans Day. Some people have off, some don't.

May 30=Memorial Day. Most people have off and there are sales, etc.

I think "Patriot Day" is more like Pearl Harbor Day, December 7. Or according to Bush the First, September 7.

It's all very confuseling.

[novice skeptic]

Absolutely not. If it became a holiday it would become meaningless. Memorial Day and Veterans Day have become another reason to go shopping, have a cookout, go away for a weekend or just enjoy a day off from work. I don't want 9/11 to become an excuse to drink beer and eat wings.

[SDC]

I would vote against a 9/11 national holiday for the same reason I would vote against many of the monuments, not all. It's because of my view of New York. For centuries, people have come here -- both foreigners, and provincials like me -- to get a job, a new life, opportunities for the kids, to get away, a chance... so on so forth. The geography and life history (as reflected in its buildings) shows this, in its constant churning and rebuilding of the city. That's what this place is all about; a new chance of whatever sort (good, bad, or indifferent); not memorialization of the old.

My opinion may appear crass, or cruel. So is New York much of the time. I think the best memorial is to remember, while I am on my way to work. And to remind those younger how they are connected -- in my case, my daughter, who when she was 2 was dragged along to the wedding of one of the people I knew who died on 9/11. She spent much of the ceremony making sure that a row of chairs was properly lined up. (As toddlers will.) She was 9 on 9/11, and we were then living in Michigan. I remember how important it seemed to me to make sure she understood her connection to the event.

[jaydeehess]

November 11=Veterans Day. Some people have off, some don't.

May 30=Memorial Day. Most people have off and there are sales, etc.

I think "Patriot Day" is more like Pearl Harbor Day, December 7. Or according to Bush the First, September 7.

It's all very confuseling.

I stand corrected, thank you.

( oh well, he knew it was one of those months ending in 'r'.......)

[MrSangMang]

A 'day of rememberance' is different than a 'holiday'.
Yes, that distinction would be acceptable to me.. just not a full-fledged "day-off" holiday. I will not live through another September 11th without being reminded of the attacks. "They" have taken that date from Americans, in that it cannot be mentioned anymore without teasing out memories.

[Elizabeth I]

While I think we should remember, I also think it may be time to put the stopping every year for a moment of silence and all that behind us. Did the country come to a halt every December 7 from 1942 to 1948? Yet we still remember Pearl Harbor and those who died there.

More to the point of honoring the memory of the dead would be to do something effective about the attackers. Whatever that might be.

[chillzero]

Off topic posts removed. Please refrain from rising to bait when a clearly deliberate attempt is made to detract people from the discussion at hand by way of insult.

[T.A.M.]

Difficult for me to comment, as a Canadian (although we did lose people on that day as well).

What I would say is while it is an important date, a tragic event, I do not see the justification above so many other tragic days, that it deserves or requires a holiday unto itself. I agree with those who suggest a day of remembrance.

TAM:)

[jaydeehess]

Yes, a yearly rememberance perhaps limited to a 1 minute of silence in Manhattan would be in order. On Nov. 11, at least in Canada, at 11 am there is a moment of silence to commemorate the sacrifice of those who died in war. Specifically it marks the day and time of the end of WW1 .

However, today my guess would be that if you went out and asked 100 people on the street about Rememberance Day only 75% at best would know the reason for the day and 30% would know the significance of the 11 day, 11th month, 11th hour.

Something must be done every year to keep the history of Sept 11th alive. This generation will remember it but what of those who are too young to have experienced it, or their children? If nothing is done then the event will drift off to being a footnote in history.

[bje]

Growing up outside Philadelphia, on Dec 7, 1961, the 20th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, all of the sirens of every fire department and civil defense agency went off for at least a minute at the exact moment in time of the beginning of the attack twenty years earlier on Pearl Harbor.

I think that would be fitting at the moment in time of each of the four plane crashes, across the country, not every year, but at least every 5 or 10-year anniversary as a reminder to us and future generations.