This morning, I got to sleep in for the first time in quite a while. When I got up, I looked in my fridge and saw that I had two things: butter and Pepsi (incase you missed the memo, I've moved, so I'm still in the "unpacking process"). Logic took over and I decided that I should trek out to the store. On the way to the store, I was stopped at a red light and I began looking at the car immediately in front of me. Something was different about this car, but I couldn't immediately place my finger on what it was. After a moment, my brain finally made the realization of what was different. So I looked at the car that was next to the car in front of me. This car was also the same in its difference. I stretched my neck out and looked at the car in front of that one. Again, different. I spent the better part of my driving time today noticing that most of the cars were different. "Different from what?" you're asking. Different from the way they were 23 months ago. 23 months ago, it was September 16, 2001....5 days after September 11. I don't really remember what I was doing on September 16th as the six months or so following 9/11 were pretty much a blur. I do at one point shortly after 9/11 remember looking about and noticing that there were American flags EVERYWHERE. Nearly every car that was on the road had either an American flag flying from its window or an American flag decal stuck on it somewhere. Honestly, I got very sick of looking at all of the flags. I wasn't sick of the flag persay, but I was tired of people only displaying them because we had been attacked and they were trying to unite together.

"We will never forget," I heard people say over and over on the media as well as in everyday life. I have no doubt that they won't forget. It's one of those things that you cannot forget no matter how much you try. You will always remember where you were when you heard that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Centre. You will also remember where you were when you discovered that it was not a freak accident, but a terrorist ATTACK. I knew that anyone who was alive and able to understand what was going on would never forget. But inside, I honestly knew that this patriotism would not last more than 5 or 7 years. I never expected it to last less than 2.

I don't know how long people were outwardly patriotic after Pearl Harbor or the Viet Nam War, but I know that has faded. Pearl Harbor was our grandparents generation. Viet Nam was our parents. September 11th will be forever be ours.

Next month will be the 2 year anniversary of The Attack on America. I believe that a few more flags will unfurl, but for some reason, when people replace them with Christmas decorations this year, I don't think they will be brought out again until next September 11th.

I feel as if people are already trying to forget everything that happened on 9/11/01. If we stop talking about it, it's much like it didn't ever happen, right? I mean, honestly, how often do you think about Pearl Harbor? When you wake up and see that the date is December 7th, is the first thing that you think of "Oh, it was x number of years ago that Pearl Harbor was attacked."? Probably not. It's not until you're driving into work and hear on the radio that it was the anniversary of the Attack on Pearl Harbor that it even registers.

I have so much more to say, but I have to be running along for the night, so I'll end with this: 61 years and 9 months ago, people were saying "We'll never forget" in reference to Pearl Harbor. At some point we did. I honestly believe that if the Pearl Harbor attacks were discussed more often than just in 8th grade history classes, 9/11 could have been prevented. The people slipped. The Government slipped. America in general slipped and 3,000 people paid for it with their lives. Innumerable others paid for it by losing loved ones. Those are the ones who will truly never forget.

This has been too much reality for me for one night. Time to pack my bags and head to Middle Earth for 2 hours and 59 minutes.