I happen to be one of those who thinks we don't see the footage often enough (or at all?) anymore. I know, it's hard, maybe cruel; especially re: the victim's families and survivors. But really. Wholesale denial? Isn't that how 9-11 happened in the first place? she asked, rhetorically.

I won't ever forget. But I also didn't want to relive it this morning on the news. I switched it to Nickelodean. I couldn't deal with it - I was so profoundly affected. It completely rocked my world and my way thinking about the world. I didn't even know the difference between Pakistan and Palestine. I was a useful idiot.

So, as an adult, I decide to not watch the news or the stories about the "Falling Man" being run now on the discovery channel (or one of those types of channels). But I'm an adult! I made that choice. And I'll never forget what happened.

But these kids need to know what happened. If we forget history...yada yada yada. I was learning about WWII and the death camps in elementary school. I met a death camp survivor in the 7th grade. Children can handle a lot more than adults give them credit for. It's cruel to try to keep reality from them, not helpful.

Pfffffttt. When I was a kid, my school (which was as preppie as they come) put up graphic photos of camp survivors- and not-so-survivors- in the school library to commemorate the Holocaust. This was the library used by everybody from grade 5 up.

We weren't traumatized, we got interested.

Let's see, I'm pretty sure I learned about the Holocaust watching war movies when I was under 10. Of course, that was when it wasn't a hate crime to play Cowboys and Indians, or line up your plastic toy soldiers and have a war with them. Heck, there's violence and death in Where The Red Fern Grows, and I read that before I was 12. So you don't give the younger kids graphic descriptions of the people jumping out the windows and hitting the pavement. That doesn't mean you can't do something.

I'll remember 9/11 and 9/12 together. On 9/12, my oldest son decided not to wait for his mother to get his younger brother from the other side of the school, and walked home with a friend of his instead. Of course, we didn't know this until later. What I knew when my wife called me at work was: a) There had been a shooting at the school (some crazy bitch had come and settled an argument with some crazy OLD bitch), b) everyone had been herded into the basement of said school, and c) my oldest boy was nowhere to be found. On the day after 9/11.

Needless to say, I didn't take long getting home. Since he turned out to be safe, we even decided not to kill him... 8-)

I think school administrators must be certified cretins.

As Misha would say, "Rope. Tree. Publik Skool Edjukater. Some assembly required."

"Anybody who doesn't know what's wrong with America's educational system never screwed an el-ed major."

-- P.J. O'Rourke

When I was 10 yrs old, my father was on occupation duty in Germany. Over my mother's objections, he took me to see the camp at Dachau. The place had been cleaned up a bit, but not yet turned into a memorial. Dad wanted me to understand what had happened in Nazi Germany. I understood, alright, and never forgot. There were still ashes in the ovens and the smell of death still lingered.

I'm from Utah, and I can honestly say that this is just Davis/Salt Lake County liberal bullhonkey. I know that means nothing to most people, but to me it totally explains everything.