It's a Date (Not a Number)

Last night, a bunch of us with flags flying rode our motorcycles through our county in memory of the events and the people affected by what happened on September 11, 2001. By the way, as we were queuing up to ride, a sunbeam broke through the otherwise heavy overcast and shone on me. I truly believe that my Mom was smiling on me this evening. Man, I still miss her since her death on September 11, 1998, but am glad to know that she is still thinking about me and bringing me sunshine on a cloudy day.

Now, to the point of this post: September 11, 2001, is a date, not a number. It just drives me nuts to see it referred to as "9/11". That term was invented by the media several weeks after the attacks, and has stuck because the media and people in general look for the lazy way out (short-hand) to refer to memorable events.

President Franklin Roosevelt said, "December 7, 1941, is a date which will live in infamy" when he spoke to the nation after the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. Every year, we remember "Pearl Harbor Day" -- NOT "twelve-seven". Those of us old enough to remember talk about where we were when President Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963. We don't call it "11/22". Okies refer to the 1995 "Murrah Building Bombing," and the rest of us call it the "Oklahoma City Bombing," not "4/19". Get it?

So that's my blog post for today -- to ask that if you refer to the attacks on the U.S. that happened seven years ago, to call them that -- the attacks that happened on September 11, 2001. Please don't call it "9/11". And remember, three locations were involved, not only New York's World Trade Center. It also drives be absolutely bonkers when people only talk about NYC and forget that a plane was crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and brave souls aboard United Flight 93 commandeered the plane and lost their lives when the plane crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on its way to who-knows-where, on that same fateful date.