Fall Happenings
September 21, 2010
Here’s a list of our upcoming meetings:
Tues Sept 7: host-Patrick, cook and ritual-Isaac
Tues Sept 21: host-Sarah, cook-Mabel, ritual-Johannes
Sat Oct 2: Michael Mass hike
Tues Oct 5: host and cook-Amber, ritual-Sarah
Tues Oct 19: host and cook-Caleb, ritual-Katie
Sat Oct 30: Planning meeting and Halloween Social hosted by Johannes
Tues Nov 2: All Saints Day! host-Amber, cook-Patrick, ritual-Ula and Isaac
Tues Nov 16: Math and Physics are Fun! host-Isaac, cook-Sarah, ritual-Johannes and Isaac
Sat Nov 27: Thanksgiving Social event in NYC, host-TBD
Tues Nov 30: Isaac and Katie host movie and games night
Tues Dec 7: Advent! host-Johannes, ritual-Patrick,
cook needed
Tues Dec 21: Advent! host, cook, and ritual needed
Patriot Day
September 3, 2010
I just learned that 9/11 is officially now called “Patriot Day” by the government. I’ve also been getting a lot of calls to participate in various 9/11 Service Day events, stuff like “Hey, 9/11 sucked and we shouldn’t forget it, so why don’t you come help paint the church library?”
Now I’m all for community service, but there’s a big part of me that still gets bitter when people co-opt the WTC tragedy. 9/11 was a huge red-letter date in my life – I was viagra tablets there when it happened and I spent a year working by the pile alongside the construction crews, the police, the USAR folks, the firemen, and all the volunteers. For my 20-year-old self, it was both formative and traumatizing.
Now, nine years later, I’m kind of surprised to find that I still have resentment built up around that day. I don’t want that chapter of my life to be co-opted for patriotism. I don’t want it co-opted for ecumenism. I don’t even want it co-opted for volunteerism – it just seems manipulative. When perky activists start talking to me about the 9/11 legacy, I just want to say, “You weren’t there. You didn’t smell it. You didn’t see the bodies. You weren’t even in New York. You don’t have the right to appropriate that day.”
It doesn’t take a genius to recognize that this isn’t the healthiest of attitudes. I don’t own 9/11 any more than any one else does, and 9/11 is as good a reason as any to get a bunch of people out volunteering in their communities; it’s certainly be better than everyone staying home and being mopey in their rooms, which is what I usually do. So I’m going to go out and volunteer with everyone else. If anyone wants to join me, I encourage you to.
I’m never, however, going to call it “Patriot Day.”