Hey guys, have an awesome 9/11!

Wondering what you can do to celebrate? Go see one of many concerts around the city! Relive the morning at home, thanks to MSNBC! Or go to a sexy frat party—a sexy fireman-themed frat party! Really, just do whatever you want, because after all, today is Patriot Day!

Personally, I think the best way to commemorate 9/11 is to actually pick up a newspaper (or go online) and read the news about the Middle East. It’s something I don’t do enough, and for better or worse (okay, worse), 9/11 launched us into that region of the world, to an unprecedented degree in our nation’s history. Those lives lost, those brave rescuers, the way this city didn’t break down the way most cities would have—all should be remembered, not just for the tragedy that unfolded on that day in 2001 but for the way in which that day lives on, now, here at home and halfway across the planet. Somewhere in Baghdad, a child is looking up at a building that’s just been hit by a missile; he’s watching it crumble, flames are everywhere, people are dying. When you read about civilians dead, it’s not just a statistic, though I admit I am often callous or disinterested enough to regard such news as just that. But those kinds of headlines are a child turning into an orphan, living a new trauma, just like we all did seven years ago. And I remember that Iraq is not our enemy.

Photo: Flickr courtesy of Sister72