If I had to answer the question posed in the following headline from today’s NYT, I would have a great deal of difficulty doing so.

As 9/11 Draws Near, a Debate Rises: How Much Tribute Is Enough?

There are those who believe that enough time has passed that we should move away from formal ceremonies:

“I may sound callous, but doesn’t grieving have a shelf life?” said Charlene Correia, 57, a nursing supervisor from Acushnet, Mass. “We’re very sorry and mournful that people died, but there are living people. Let’s wind it down.”

Then, an opinion of someone who lost a relative on that dark day:

“The idea of scaling back just seems so offensive to me when you think of the monumental nature of that tragedy,” said Anita LaFond Korsonsky, whose sister Jeanette LaFond-Menichino died in the World Trade Center. “If you’re tired of it, don’t attend it; turn off your TV or leave town. To say six years is enough, it’s not. I don’t know what is enough.”

Or is Mr. Brosseau correct in his thinking?

Some people are troubled by what they see as others’ taking advantage of the event. “Six years later, we can see that a lot of people have used 9/11 for some gain,” said Matt Brosseau, 27, of Westfield, N.J. He sees the public tributes as “crassly corporatized and co-opted by false patriots.”

Does a professional in the mental health field have the correct attitude?

Mental health practitioners see a certain value in the growing fatigue.

“It’s a good sign when people don’t need an anniversary commemoration or demarcation,” said Charles R. Figley, the director of the Florida State University Traumatology Institute. “And it’s not disrespectful to those who died.”

There is a great deal of food for thought in this piece. Each of the opinions offered by those interviewed has an element of validity. After all, we all face tragedy in a different manner, with each person determining the path which best suits their needs.

Perhaps, the following says it best:

“Commemoration aims to simplify, but life as it’s lived and feelings as they’re felt are never simple,” said John Bodnar, a professor of history at Indiana University.

That’s for certain.