Take time to reflect on Sept. 11

Time gives way to complacency.

As we hurtle headlong toward Election Day, we'll hear plenty about service to country. We'll hear plenty about the presidential candidates' commitment to the military and to the countries we've put troops in.

You'll have to sort through the static to decide for yourself what our place in the world should be.

But today, those candidates and all of us need to stop to think about what got us there in the first place. We should all reflect upon the horrors of Sept. 11 seven years ago when four airliners were hijacked and we lost nearly 3,000 people in attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. And 40 people who fought back, averting another likely disaster only to crash into the Pennsylvania countryside.

Or the thousands we've lost since in our response to that black day in the history of the United States.

Why should we remember and not simply move on?

Sept. 11, 2001, should remain as raw for us as it was when we parked around television sets seven years ago and forgot about work. At least for one day a year.

If Sept. 11 is relegated to a history book, we, too, will forget our vulnerability to terrorists. The inconvenience we feel in removing our shoes in airports will supersede the desire for security that helps keep us safe.

No, there hasn't been another attack on the United States since, but if we don't remain vigilant to another attack, if we don't remind our politicians that our safety is paramount, then our protections against terrorism will erode. And that is something that we can ill afford.

It's hard to believe that any child in elementary school today is too young to have remembered that awful day.

But if you look around the suburbs and the nation today you'll see commemorations of Sept. 11 large and small. Some are organized by veterans groups, some by schools.

At Leggee Elementary School in Huntley, fifth-grade teacher Jon Grell's class from 2001 is returning from Huntley High School today to read the letters they wrote after the attacks.

These types of activities should only serve as an introduction to our children about the importance and solemnity of the events of that day.

Talk to your kids about it. Help them understand what you experienced that day. Ensure that its importance is not lost on them as they grow older.

Sens. McCain and Obama have agreed to a challenge by the grass roots Web site MyGoodDeed.org to suspend campaigning for the day. One of the group's goals is to observe Sept. 11 as a day of unity and of voluntary service, which we think is a laudable idea.

However you choose to mark the day, remember it.

Time gives way to complacency.

Only if we let it.