9/11 anniversary: Wake-up call?

Every year about this time, a sadness is felt in our hearts, as we remember - and recoil from - the horrible truth of what happened on Sept. 11, 2001.

Indeed, the much-quoted slogan "We will never forget" might better be worded to say "We CAN never forget (much as we wish we could)."

Sad to say, there is almost a hollowness in the American psyche that is eerily symbolized by that great vacant piece of real estate in Lower Manhattan where once a towering architectural accomplishment had stood. Six years later, and the wound remains open, the revenge undelivered, the crisis unresolved, the memorial unbuilt.

It might indeed be stated that America as a country is in the midst of a kind of post-tramautic stress disorder which is so consuming that it is not even visible to those of us who are in it. We go about our daily lives with maddening persistence. We put up with bad government, foolish conspiracy theories, and general indifference, and don't raise our voices. We ache for victory, but settle for deferred defeat. We think about the future, but doubt it will ever amount to much.

And once a year, we are stirred to remember the past - the two or three hours of terror on September 11 when close to 3,000 people were killed to promote the political and religious agenda of militant Islam.

We remember it because we have to, but there is no satisfaction in that remembering. It is like the boxer who tongues the hole where his tooth used to be. It's a useless instinct that only serves to distract him when he would more directly benefit from throwing a punch back at the other guy.

This year, Osama bin Laden has delivered a video message to America to mark the anniversary of the attack he launched. Maybe seeing his face, and hearing his taunts, will make us remember for a few short days what happened, who did it, and why we should care.

But then a few days later, we will be absent-mindedly staring into the hole in the ground again, dreaming about our greatness, and wondering where we should go from here.

Six years after Pearl Harbor, Japan was under American control, Germany was in ruins, and America was beginning the greatest growth in its history.

Six years after 9/11, we watch and wait.