My "take" on Remembering September 11th

This "date" on my calendar is a dread to me. I remember that day very well. We were living in Port Hueneme, CA which is between Malibu and Ventura on a small base; The Naval Construction Battalion Center, Port Hueneme, California. That day the base went on lock down so we had to get our children out of school, and back onto the base or they would've been unable to get in after school. However that is not why I dread this day. September 11, 2001 was 8 years ago, and it is the only day in our American history that is focused on yearly. We don't stop and remember Pearl Harbor, the day John F. Kennedy was killed, the day our soldiers came home from Vietnam, any of the deaths of our former Presidents, the day WWI, or WWII ended, or the day that Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation into law; this is the only day that we stand up and REMEMBER with such VIGOR! Yet since that day 8 years ago there has been more hope than sorrow. We as a nation need to focus on the hope, not the sorrow, and give equal time to remembering other days in our Nations history that has shaped us as well. Not only that, if this "day" is so important to us . . . then so are our Soldiers, EMT, Firefighters, Police Officers, etc and they need to be thanked daily just not THIS ONE DAY!