In 2021, on the twentieth anniversary of 9/11, NJ.com asked its readers how they intended to “commemorate the 20th anniversary.” Here’s the answer I gave. I’d forgotten it until Facebook called it up today as a “memory.” I think it holds good today, about 9/11, about 10/7, and about much else that for lack of a better word, we “commemorate.”

9/11 lasted a day. The Afghan War lasted twenty years. Does it make sense to dwell on a single day but forget the 20 year insanity that followed it? The war just ended three weeks ago, and already people want to forget it, just as they forgot Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Libya, and Syria. Three thousand died on 9/11, but over 300,000 civilians have died as a result of the wars that followed. In other words, 9/11 is a drop in the bucket of the blood that’s been spilled over the last 20 years. So it’s delusional to pretend that 9/11 is all that matters. But that’s how most of America thinks. That’s what I’ll think about on 9/11.