Maybe it is time to move forward

Everyone in the US knows that today marks the anniversary of the attacks in New York City and Washington DC twelve years ago. News outlets across the country are flooded with stories about how important it is to remember the lives that were lost and the way we came together as a country and the men and women that serve our country. There are countless articles about remembering today and "where were you" when you first heard the news.
 
But, at some point, we have to try and move on. To heal.
 
I'm not saying that we should all forget what happened. Even if we wanted to, that would be an impossible task. Stepping into an airport would be a quick reminder of how much things changed because of the events that took place. But we do need to try and move forward and move past what happened. Having an annual reminder and trying to memorialize what happened is a bit excessive. Yes, over two thousand people died in the span of a few hours due to these terrible acts of violence. But, in comparison with the number of lives lost due to poverty and war and random acts of violence, this number pales in comparison. It is terrible that over two thousand innocent people lost their lives, but so too are the thousand innocent people killed in Syria a few weeks ago.

There comes a point when the mantra of "never forget" changes from "never forget what happened" to "never forget what they did." While it is important to honor the firefighters and police officers and civilians that stepped up on this day, sometimes this "remembrance" only seeks to fuel an intolerance and hatred that is already deeply rooted in this culture. I've seen more posts today about how much better the world would be without Muslims or Iraq or Afghanistan or any other of a number of countries than I would like to admit I've seen. The level of hate that I've seen from some people today has been disgusting.
 
There are also so many families that dread this day because they were personally affected by these attacks and lost a loved one. These families are haunted by this day that is celebrated every year. While they have spent the past twelve years trying to grieve and move on with their lives, seeing these pictures and stories about "Remember 9/11" only bring back the horror that they lived through. The events that day are politicized, discussed and posted about by people that have no idea what it was like to see those planes hit or to have to find out that a family member or a friend was lost.
 
If you want to remember the 2,976 Americans that died today in these attacks, don't forget to remember the 48,644 Afghan lives and 1,690,903 Iraqi lives and 35,000 Pakistani lives that were all lost due to these terrible acts that they did not commit.