Project 2
An anniversary: something that is associated with happy times like a marriage, a graduation, birth of a child, or just a happy event in general. The question is should the term "anniversary" also be used to commemorate tragedies? Gregory Gibson is a writer for The New York Times and a grieving father of a son murdered in a 1993 school shooting when he was eighteen. Gibson doesn't think calling the date that marks a school shooting event an anniversary is appropriate, just like much of the wording we use to describe gun crimes is misused. One such example, that of "someone being in the wrong place at the wrong time" might actually do harm because it lulls people into a sense of powerlessness. I relate this to being the case it would mean other so-called "anniversaries" are inappropriately labeled such as September 11th, 2001, when terrorists murdered thousands. Most people consider September 11th every year as a day to celebrate lives lost and mourn them, but is it perverse to call that loss an anniversary? What do you think? Is it too morbid in comparison to use language associated with happy times? Gregory Gibson seems to think so and what's more, he thinks it's made us passive about school shootings.