Stop commemorating 9/11 ?

I am going to say something controversial.

Every year since 2001, New York City remembers 9/11. They do a reading of the 3000 or so dead. The Mayor says something sombre. People stand at attention. Flags are raised and lowered. And so on.

But right now the US is losing every 2 days more than was lost in 9/11. If current projections hold, by June the daily death toll could exceed 9/11.

The 9/11 rememberances always seemed overwrought and self indulgent. A few days ago was the 75th anniversary of the end of WW2. Russian television showed a scrolling of the names of Russians who perished in that war. Tens of thousands of names every hour. 26 million total. To the Russians even the entire US casualties (400 000) in the war seem trivial. What do you think they think about the 3000 for 9/11? Likewise for the British.

Look, if you want to say that 9/11 was a tragedy and 3 000 people were murdered, you are absolutely right. But if 3 000 is a tragedy, what is 10 000 lost to Covid? What is 20 000? In fact, if the total US Covid toll is 20 000, that would be blessing. How can I say that? Because it would mean that tens of thousand more people would be alive.

Covid may put 9/11 into some perspective. At what point do they stop the NY events? The virus toll is currently 77 000. Ramping inexorably to a once mocked 100 0000. We’ve seen this before. After December 1941, several places in the US held ceremonies on 7 December of each year. But it petered out by the late 70s. 35 years. Currently it has been 18 years for 9/11. How many more?