Working 9-to-5 on 9/11
It’s 9/11, the anniversary of a tragedy.
For the first time, I’ve seen a split between people who want to “move on” and those who want to engage in commemorations of the day. Up until this year the latter far outweighed the former.
As for me, I ride along the middle: it’s just another day at work, yet, I can’t go through it without thinking about those lost lives several times a day. It helps keep things in perspective. The civilians who lost their lives 6 years ago were engaged in their workaday lives when the terrorists struck: is it disingenuous to suggest that we’re paying our respects to their memory, merely by working through every September 11 with a sad nod to the victims’ lost potential?
Maybe that’s a cop-out. Maybe we need to show that this tragedy wore a deeper tread into our lives than that. Maybe working 9–to-5 — in so-called solidarity with those who lost their own chance to do so — is self-indulgent.
Or maybe the tragedy was so unspeakable that to engage in anything BUT “business as usual” would feel even more hollow?
SIDENOTE: Kami Huyse has a great post today in which several of my favorite people and bloggers recount, via Twitter, “where were you on 9/11?”
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Todd,
I am with you on feeling conflicted about this. In the end, I ended up choosing to fly today. That’s something I never thought I would do six years ago.
I wrote more about this (and how social media can play a role in building a better world) over on Marketing Profs.
http://www.mpdailyfix.com/2007/09/social_media_on_the_day_everyt.html
…Michael
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Michael E. Rubin
Call me — 312-787-7249 x212
See what I’m up to — http://twitter.com/merubin
See a picture of an orangutan — http://tinyurl.com/yosceb
Todd, I appreciate the thoughtful nature of this post, which goes beyond a simple “we’re thinking of you” to those who’ve passed and their families.
But my comment here is prompted by something much more fun: Mr. Rubin (see first comment above), yours is the single greatest e-mail/comment signature I’ve ever seen. You’ve inspired me to refresh mine.
Thanks for your thoughts on this. It was actually your comment on Twitter, “Is 9-11 just another day?” that led me start thinking and to write my post.