Somewhat Sad, Yet Encouraging

You may have already heard. This weekend, Hollywood offered us a movie based on the events surrounding United flight 93 on September 11, 2001. I haven't seen it yet, but I plan to. Considering that I don't make it to the theater much anymore, I'll probably wait to see it on DVD. It's already saved to my Netflix queue.

Since that fateful day, our country seems to have been in perpetual mourning. For the past four and a half years, we've let the events of that day influence our lives. In some respects, that's a good thing. This was a tragedy-- one that should have never happened. It opened our eyes to our vulnerabilities and, in some cases, our arrogance. It brought us together as a nation.

However, there are some things that I've missed. People used to enjoy life, and I don't see that as much anymore. Politicians all seem to talk about what the terrorists are doing and thinking and plotting.

I noticed the box office numbers last night, and I was surprised at what I saw. The movie based on 9/11 wasn't the number one movie, as I'd expected. Instead, Americans chose to see a Robin Williams comedy. United 93 deserves to be one of those pictures that everyone sees, like Schindler's List and The Passion. These are movies based on events that should not ever be forgotten. But at the same time, I was encouraged to see that Americans seem to want to go back to just enjoying life and getting past our loss. We just want to laugh.

That's a sentiment that I can appreciate.