Reflections on 9/11

The continual reminders of the tragedy of Sept. 11 are akin to the nation acting like a child picking at a scab (“Forget Sept. 11? Just Try,” by Howard Rosenberg, Aug. 23).

Yes, the nation got hurt terribly, but we do not need to dwell on it night and day for month after month. We had programming at the one month “anniversary,” and when we were still doing special programs of remembrance at the six-month anniversary, I knew we were going over the top.

I won’t forget Pearl Harbor, D-day, the Oklahoma bombing or any of the rest. But this country has a multitude of problems to solve, and the excessive and overdone attention to Sept. 11 is diverting us from making progress on them.

L. BROWN

Thousand Oaks

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We’ve all read, watched and listened to every imaginable detail dug from the rubble of Sept. 11. The media have become hard-pressed to describe with any originality or fresh insight the horrors of that day. We, the demanding public, still grasping for any new shred of information that might help explain how something so wretched could have occurred, are partly to blame. In truth, what’s called for on the upcoming anniversary is a kind of tribute that’s traditionally allowed for our deepest reflection: a moment of silence.

Of course, in the case of our mass media, what I’m suggesting is nearly unthinkable. But imagine the power of a major network or newspaper declaring that for 12 straight hours (could we all stand it?), they would broadcast not a single minute, print not a single word of news, sports or entertainment. Rather, they would only air or print a solitary graphic, symbolic of our collective grief.

I can’t imagine a more courageous act on their part. But, of course, it will never happen. Why? Because such a decision would earn them not a single dime.

It might, however, earn back the respect and loyalty of a public grown increasingly cynical of journalistic excess.

LARRY CEDAR

Sherman Oaks