My birthday is September eleventh. Yes, that's definitely a part of it. I turned thirty-three years old that year. An age when anyone might start having visions of mortality on their birthday. Mine were perhaps more graphic than most. Brilliantly exploding office complexes. Plummeting bodies. On my thirty-third birthday, a cell of the Al Qaeda terrorist organization hijacked three passenger jets with the intent of using them as bombs. They were mostly, and horribly, successful. For most of that day, I completely forgot it was my birthday. I 'd enrolled in a continuing education course for that week. Rather than further educate myself on the functioning of my industry, as had been the plan, I spent the day reading headlines on my cell phone - to the tune of $200 in additional charges. I was a wreck. I couldn't think; I couldn't watch the news. The skies were empty. I planted a viburnum trilobum in the front yard. I exhaled a zeppelin of sighs.

The anniversary of 9-11 wasn't much better. My stress levels climbed as the day approached. I couldn't sleep, couldn't concentrate.  The nation remembered, so did I. I feared another attack.  I wanted revenge.  The nation sought vengeance of those who had wronged us. More anniversaries passed. But, as the they passed, the images disappeared from the news, replaced by new ones. And the message changed... twisted. Suddenly, Iraq was somehow involved. Or was it only Sadam Hussein? The connection was mentioned as if we'd all agreed to it yesterday, in some conversation I'd missed. And the actual events of 9-11 faded further from view. It left me feeling confused, powerless, and angry. The two wars became conflated in the minds of the populace. No one spoke of what had actually happened on 9-11. It's time we started talking about it again, time we started drawing distinctions between fighting back against those who attacked us and lashing out against our recent enemies who happen to live in the same neighborhood. Maybe this project will help to bring 9-11 back to our attention. Maybe we'll be able to start on sorting this out, deciding if what we're doing is what we really want to do. If it helps us to do that, I want to be a part of it.

Did you know on September 11, 1941, ground was broken for the construction of The Pentagon! September 11 is also the first day of the Coptic calender? Check out Wikipedia to see a bunch of interesting info on September 11 through out history. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11

I asked Mike, "Have you ever thought about celebrating your birthday on a different day?"

Yes, I'd thought about it. I even had a day picked out (September 24). But it would've seemed like sticking my head in the sand.... I'd just feel like I was faking it all through the day, which I would have been. I hate that feeling. 

Mike Fischer
http://thefishmongersplace.blogspot.com