So the second anniversary of September 11th is this week. Great. I'm not trying to be snide or flippant about it. I really have a tough time whenever I see September 11th images like the ones of the twin towers ablaze. I didn't know anyone killed or injured in the attacks on the WTC or the Pentagon (remember how the Pentagon was attacked, too, but that always seems to get ignored?), so I can only imagine what it must be like for someone who did. I just get real tired of the news media cramming the images of September 11th down our throats to get their ratings up. Yes, I know it's what networks do to get ratings and to survive, but it's still fucking disgusting. It's also unnecessary - it's not as if we're going to fucking forget. As if I'm ever going to forget getting a call from my grandmother, telling me I need to turn on the TV because something awful had happened. As if I'm going to forget only able to think "this is bad" because at first that horrible understatement was all my mind could put together. Like I'll forget driving to class that day, continually saying to myself "Lower Manhattan is being evacuated. The Pentagon is on fire." And as if I'm going to forget how the world really did change with the shitstorm that has ensued.

Last year, I made it a goal to not watch any TV or read any news media on the 11th. I wasn't in denial or trying to bury thinking about it. September 11th has reshaped and redefined so many things that I couldn't live in denial even if I wanted to, which I don't. Again, I just don't need those images being replayed over and over again, because I can just conjure them up in my mind if I really want to make myself feel even shittier. I don't need all of the tributes/publicity stunts/ratings grabbers which totally bastardize the tragedy. And I don't need to be reminded how America was supposed to change, how America was supposed to better herself after September 11th, but didn't.