A 9-11 T-Shirt.

I was buying a bagel on the way to work this morning & there was a woman on line wearing a brand-new ‘9-11 Memorial’ t-shirt (with an ad for Tishman Construction prominently displayed on the sleeve). Not a ‘Never Forget’ t-shirt or an ‘In Loving Memory’ t-shirt. That mighta been OK.

No. It was a tourist trap souvenir t-shirt. How exactly is that different from an Auschwitz t-shirt or a Srebrenica t-shirt or a Darfur t-shirt or a Columbine t-shirt?

At least it was black, but I think that was more Manhattan cool than anything else.

There is a serious disconnect these days between the sacrifices, the hardships, the tragedies, the insanity that makes up the lives & deaths around us, & the willingness or even the ability of the rest of us to see it. We have no shared American experience anymore. No shared grief or anger or despair or joy. Or love. We have become a nation of people who hate our neighbors, both next door & around the world, because we think they have something that should be ours & why should we share, anyway?

I had hoped that Ground Zero would remain...I dunno, hallowed ground. Sacred. That's strange coming from me, I guess. Maybe 'sacred' is the wrong word, because, in a sense, it is a monument, to how quickly people will kill (& avenge those killings) in God's name. An invisible monument, to be sure, but still there. To most people, it has become one more background for one more vacation picture of the kids. Something to do before the Broadway show or the Yankees game. A reminder to nobody. An homage lost & forgotten. An inconvenience.

9-11 no longer has any meaning. After just 10 short years, it is just an excuse to deny each other's patriotism. Or sell t-shirts.

Update, 20 May 2014: The 9/11 Museum is open. It has a gift shop.