A Battlefield Tourist

“Patriots’ Day” Already Becoming Just Another Day?

Sep 12 at 5:05pm by David Tate

The attacks on America in 2001 had a profound impact on most of us, not just on Americans, but the world in general.  However, as time goes by, the memories of that tragic day seem to be slipping from our collective minds.  When I say that, I certainly don’t mean the memories of that day, but the memory of the day itself appears to be losing its value on the day-to-day level of everyday life.

It certainly isn’t a theory that can be proven.  However, it certainly stands to reason (and appears to be the case) that as the years go by, the acceptance of 9/11 as the national holiday called, “Patriot’s Day”, is having trouble taking hold.

On the seventh anniversary of 9/11, I was asked to go to Virginia Tech to cover an event commemerating 9/11.  The challenge was to create a natural sound story no more than 80 seconds long. 

The subject:  Three students who planted more than 2,700 flags on Tech’s drillfield in order to “remind” people of 9/11.

Yesterday I talked to about a dozen people for this story and not one of them knew that 9/11 is officially called “Patriot’s Day”; not even the organizers of the event this story is based around.  Not to knock anyone, it was just quite the eye opener to be sure.

Hope you like it.
DT

Video Story

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