It’s that time of year again, so how might we begin to find a rhythm for commemorating 9/11 and/or the July London bombings?
Perhaps, in our local communities, we could build huge bonfires, and all gather round them, faces glowing in the heat. We could make effigies of Bin Laden, or Mohammed Siddique Khan, and have competitions to create the most grotesque one, before lifting them atop the fire and cheering as they burned.
We could light up the sky with fireworks, reminding us of the explosions that ripped through the air that day.
We could gather together for festive food: sweet toffee apples or spiced wine, and congregate in large crowds in pubs and bars beforehand to get right into the mood.
Or we could lobby our governments and demand that no Muslim ever held public office – at least for a few hundred years until things calmed down a bit.
Ah. Apologies. I forgot. That’s what we Brits do to commemorate the 5th of November 1605, when the Catholic, Guy Fawkes, very nearly blew up parliament with kegs of gunpowder stowed in the basement of the Palace of Westminster.
Somehow it all seems a less appropriate celebration these days…
Technorati: 9/11 | Bin Laden| September 11| Guy Fawkes| Terrorism|Commemoration
Comments
One response to “Some Ideas for Commemorating 9/11”
I’m not the only one afterall! I’ve been waiting years for someone to call a spade a spade. My Spanish friend asked me what 5th Nov was all about. I was embrassed and a little ashamed to have to explain our commemoration of one religious faction’s “victory” over and continued oppression of another faction. He seemed bemused…