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I’m not going to go into the details of what I was doing on the day it happened.  I’ve been there, and it doesn’t do anyone any good to wallow in their misery.

It amazes me that we choose to re-traumatize ourselves every year on the anniversary…complete with graphic visuals and droning, repetitive descriptions of what happened that day.

You don’t tell a rape victim to re-live the experience every year do you?  Ask any medical professional, there is an inherent danger in repeatedly re-opening old wounds.

I think remembering is important – it’s just how we choose to remember. I like to think about the strength, courage and caring so many people displayed during a devistating crisis. I think no victim forgets but they can see the fact that they are a survivor.

Sadly, that’s not what our media is portraying. Gazing into the smoking wound again and again and again in high-definition video doesn’t help us heal, it only serves to inflame anger and keep hatred alive unnecessarily.

Again to use the analogy, it’s like a rape victim being forced to watch a video of the attack again and again in some misguided hope that it will somehow harden them to it. It doesn’t and it never will.

We were violated.  It’s true.  But there comes a point when you  have to start moving towards the future, because nothing can be gained from constantly staring into the past.

Next time you want to slam unions remember this: “A rising tide lifts all boats.”

Even if your job is NOT union, remember that the business has to stay competitive with the union jobs in order to hire people. So a business has to offer a decent salary just to get people to sign on.

Part of what makes America great is the freedom for our workers to collectively bargain for better conditions, thereby raising the bar for other businesses if they want to hire, because the best and the brightest will take the jobs with the better working conditions.

This is also why big business LOVES high unemployment. It makes it easier for business to say “take it or leave it” and offer crap wages and working conditions.  An easy example will be the fact that I’ve seen contract rates fall by 10-15% in the last year alone.

The desperate can be easily pressured to “take it or leave it.”

Dear Congress -

I’m a small business owner. All of the tax cuts in the WORLD aren’t going to change the fact that until demand comes up I’m not in a position to hire someone, no matter how much I want to.

If I hired someone today they would be sitting on their ass waiting for work.

Demand isn’t going to come up until the consumers start spending money.

They aren’t going to start spending money until they have more in their pockets.

So a hint – leave me the hell out of your equation and give the tax cuts to those who need it, so they can spend it, so I can hire someone and start growing again.

Love, me.