September 11 as a national holiday? No way!

I see a lot of polls gets posted on Facebook that ask a wide range of questions. Should Michael Vick be allowed to play in the NFL? Who are you voting for President? Do you like the new Facebook?

The other day one caught my eye; Should September 11 be a national holiday?

The responses I was seeing from some of my friends and former classmates startled me as I was overwhelmed at the number of people that said yes, we should recognize September 11 as a national holiday.

I could not disagree more with this idea. Let me start by looking at the definition of the word "holiday"...

"A day of festivity or recreation when no work is done." What more do I really need to say? On a day in which the whole country was forced to come to a screeching halt due to a cowardly act of terror and the only people left to do any work were the police, fire fighters, and medical teams, people seriously believe the best way to honor their courageous actions is by taking a day off to enjoy your picnics?

If anything these heroes fought to keep our lives as normal as possible. The country should not stand idle so you can go to the mall and take advantage of September 11 holiday one-day deals. To me a holiday should be a joyous occasion, as the above definition suggests.

Of course I have no quarrels with memorials or monuments in honor of the dreadful day. By all means, honor those who lost their lives and families. Pay tribute to those who volunteered their time to help in any way they could. But do not think for one second that you should get a day off from work or school.

September 11 is a time to remember and memorialize. I hope you do so in your own way today.