A holiday?
Editorial

This week was the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and, not for the first time, there were discussions of creating a national holiday.

The reasons to do this are many. It would be a way to honor those who died in New York City, at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Penn. It would be a way to honor those who lived through the events of that day from family members to victims.

In all, 2,974 victims were killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, not including the 19 hijackers. There were 2,750 killed on the planes or in the World Trade Centers including an Ashburnham native; 40 died in a Pennsylvania field and 184 were killed on the plane or in the Pentagon.

A holiday would be a way to pass down the legacy of our memories of watching the news for days straight as the country and the world tried to figure out what had happened.

But there is a bigger reason to not create a holiday. This is not a day we want to commercialize. In five years we should not be walking down the streets of New York City or Washington, D.C., or even of Ashburnham and Westminster and see signs for 20 percent off for the 9/11 sales.

Some years those who did not live through the attack on Pearl Harbor may not remember the events of Dec. 7, 1941, as they look at a calendar page. But the next generations do remember the soldiers, and events, which followed that attack on American soil.

So maybe if students stay in school and people go to work on days like Sept. 11 and Dec. 7, they will write the date and remember those who lost their lives and those who survived those two days.

And maybe they won't but it would be better to overlook the day on the calendar then to remember it because of a sale.