Should the reading of names at 9/11 tributes be changed?

No, it helps bring closure to some of those who are still in pain and hurts no-one. I agree with you about the others and wish I had some suggestion to make about how to help them. But, I do not.

I think they are the invisible victims and if not their names read out, there should be some acknowledgement of their sacrifice. There may already be, I don’t know.

Hmm, I thought the first-responders’ names are read as they are victims as well.
Their names are definitely among those on the memorial stones.

Personally I would do away with it, no more names at all.

Something about it does not sit right with me. First of all, 99.9999% of the audience have no idea who Josh Smith or Juan Ramirez are, and their 10 year old fained sympathy is a little fake to me. Furthermore, there is something defeatist and bitter about the whole thing.

Also, imagine you are there, listening to over 3000 names being read out, and there is only one you are interested in hearing. Being number 2677 only serves to rub in how insignificant your wife, brother, etc was. If anything it only highlights how impersonal it all is.

@poisonedantidote Wow, I couldn’t agree with you less.
People don’t listen to the names being read only for the ones they know, and when they hear the name of their family member/loved one/friend it is an inclusion into a group who grieve. It’s about shared pain being eased.
I don’t know anyone who was killed that day, but I listen to the names to honor them.
I am also glad my cousin didn’t go to work that day.

I kind of think the names are not necessary anymore. I want to continue to acknowledge the day, it’s arguable for it to become a national holiday in my opinion, but each name? Do we do that for any other loss of lives? Not that I am against the reading of the names, just that I don’t think it has to be done to acknowledge the people lost on that day.

I appreciate more the stories of that day. I am still waiting for media to report how the person in charge of the subway system that day when the first plane hit ordered all people in the nearby stations off the platforms. People were not allowed to exit the trains, and people waiting for trains were ordered onto the next train that arrived and the entire underground within a certain distance of the towers were cleared. Everyone working the trains and the stations worked swiftly, safely, and efficiently to make this happen. This, while those in charge of safety for the towers were telling people in the second tower to not worry and not exit the building, the man in charge of the subway took the first hit very seriously and evacuated everyone. From reports I read no one died underground in the vicinity.

I appreciate allowing people who were there and family and friends who remember that day having the opportunity to tell what they went through. I would like to see new faces, people who maybe could or did not want to talk in the first few years. People who were then children, but now adults maybe wanting to tell their stories.

First responders having the opportunity to talk about what has happened post 9/11 regarding their health and other issues the firfighters, police, health care workers still deal with.

Reading the names is probably important to the victims’ families.

Reading the names is for those who find meaning in it. If we don’t find meaning, we should be polite and let the others go through their grieving process.

If people want to read names of first responders who died later, the same principle holds. Be polite. Let the grievers grieve.

For me, yesterday was a day a lot like 9/11/01. I remembered a little and went about my business. This is something that is in the past now, and we have far too many reminders of it every day—and especially when we fly. We need to get over it already.

When do we start reading the names of the troops that died in Iraq and Afghanistan? Or the innocent civilians killed in the wars?

It is hard to feign sympathy for stockbrokers and bankers.

I think they should only read the names of the personal that went in to try and help. And the secrataries and janitors.

edit: and I am not trolling. Seriously, the world is better off with less day-traders.

While I respect your right not to like bankers and stockbrokers @johnpowell – that was just their job. They were also someone’s child, father, mother, wife, husband, lover and friend. I am sure in reality some of the emergency workers/secretaries/cleaners might also have been described as unpleasant by people who knew them but none of the people who died as a result of the events on 9/11/2001 deserved to die as they did.

The ordinary workers who died in those buildings (not the emergency personnel) also can’t be categorised in the same way as troops in conflict zones. They went to work in an office block where they should have been perfectly safe. They didn’t sign up to be in a position of danger.

[edited]
If you want to stop day-traders get behind a trading transaction tax.
[edited]