It's true. Sad, but true.

This letter to the editor appearing in today's edition of The News Tribune and I agree with it 100%. It was written by a Ms. Margot LeRoy in Gig Harbor:


TheNewsTribune.comSection: Letters
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U.S. seems to have learned little from that tragic day

MARGOT LEROY; Gig Harbor

I am not trying to be insensitive or uncaring. But it is well past time for Americans to move beyond the events 9/11 and begin to focus on the future of this nation.

What happened was horrible, but indiscriminate carnage occurs every day in the Sudan, Iraq and many other places in our world. Innocent civilians are routinely killed; innocent children and the elderly are harmed in random violence. Our preoccupation with our tragedy, as if it were a singular event, does little to solve the enormous problems facing the world.

This constant reliving of our tragic event and the incessant drumbeat that implies that we, as Americans, suffered more than others in our world, is both egocentric and very, very foolish. We need to get past 9/11 and learn to respect those who must live with violence and tragedy every day.

I, too, was changed by that horrible day. I learned to look at the courage displayed by those whose lives are at constant risk. I learned that revenge is a useless tool in problem solving. I learned that truth is a commodity that must never be taken for granted. I learned, as my father told me, talking about his experiences during World War II, “Doing something has value; talking about it does not.”

Ceremony after ceremony, news show after news show, politicians ad nauseum. It doesn’t make me proud; it makes me realize how little we learned that sad day.