Perspective

Last night, I dragged the family out to the Linden Hills 911 Tribute. The weather was a bit on the brisk side, but that didn't seem to dampen the turnout. My wife and I were pleasantly surprised to see a sizable crowd already gathered at the band shell when we drove by at around 6:30pm. At least we were pleased until we realized how far away that meant that we would have to park. Small sacrifice.

We managed to make it about halfway through the event before our littlest one ran out of patience. Apparently he was cold, hungry, and tired. Four-month-olds can be such babies sometimes.

The portion that we were able to catch was for the most part well-worth the trouble. That the music was solidly inspiring was not surprising given that someone like Manny Laureano was running the show. The unabashedly patriotic nature of the event was also refreshing. From the singing of the Star Spangled banner to the reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to having a mini-parade of kids waving American flags, it was an all-American affair. And the speakers weren't shy about invoking God either (more than just in the official invocation) which is always good to hear at community events.

Given all that, I almost don't want to even mention a complaint which some may regard as petty. Almost.

The official name of the event is "Our 9/11 Tribute." It has been held for the last five years on the anniversary of that terrible day in 2001. Therefore one expects to hear a lot about the events of 9/11 and how they are now remembered as Patriot Day.

What one doesn't expect to hear--at least I didn't--was a lot of talk about the 35W bridge collapse. Minneapolis Mayor RT "Float Diver" Rybak spent almost the entirety of his mercifully short speech talking about the bridge collapse and then bragging on how Minnesotans responded to it. Some of the emergency rescue workers who were involved in operations at the bridge were honored last night and some of the kids who were rescued from the school bus on the bridge were also prominently in attendance. Enough already.

The bridge collapse was a tragedy. The victims should be remembered. The heroes honored. And we should do all that we can to ensure that it doesn't happen again.

But can we get a little perspective please? To compare 9/11 with the 35W bridge collapse is ludicrous. The scope and scale are completely different. Nearly three thousand Americans died on 9/11 in New York City, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania. Thirteen people died in Minneapolis when the bridge collapsed.

Even more importantly, the bridge collapse was a tragedy not unlike a natural disaster. No one intentionally caused the bridge to collapse. No one wanted those thirteen people to die.

9/11 was a carefully planned attack against the United States of America by an international terrorist organization that essentially wishes to destroy Western Civilization. The Twin Towers didn't come down because of a structural engineering deficiency. They came down because a group of very evil men wanted to kill as many Americans as possible. This simple fact should never be forgotten and when you conflate events like the 35W bridge collapse with 9/11, you water down the significance of what should be a searing memory on the soul of every American old enough to recall the horror of that day.

(King had some similar thoughts on inapt 9/11 comparisons.)