Poll Questions and 9/11

I hate unclear or biased poll questions! Take for example GMA's daily poll: do you think America will recover from 9/11? Three choices: a) yes, I think we will recover we just need more time.  b) yes, I think we have already recovered. and c) no, I think we will never be the same. 

Why does recovery have to equal being the same? As a nation, we have recovered from massive outbreaks of "Yellow Fever" that wiped out entire townships, yet we no longer sit around the fire in our mud thatched homes waiting for brother to unhitch the horses and come inside so we can listen to Pa play the fiddle while sister finishes her embroidery sampler. 

Some might say that is an unfair compairison because the advancement of lifestyle and invention of technology have nothing to do with Yellow Fever... ok how about this.... we wash our hands with antibacterial soap, we clean our dishes with hot soap and water, we keep our foods fresh, we go to the doctor and get antibiotics... these are advancements in technology that keep us from getting epidemic diseases.... we don't do things involving our health and safety the same as we did in Laura and Mary's day! Does this mean we have not recovered from yellow fever?

Times change, technology is invented and people figure out new and better ways to do things.  That is progress, not the lack of recovery! Just because we have stepped up security in airports and people as a whole are more alert and aware of their surroundings, does not mean we have failed to recover from 9/11.

I was shocked to see my answer of "b" (already recovered) was the least chosen response in this poll, and "c" (never be the same) had almost 50% of the votes, then I realized the difference in wording was throwing people off.  

I looked up a definiton of "recovered" and found it is a "return to a normal state of health, mind, or strength" or to "be well again".  Have we as a nation recovered from 9/11? Yes, we have returned to normal.  We no longer have people wandering the streets of NYC covered in ash and soot, bleeding from gaping wounds, and crying out the names of missing loved ones.  We no longer have pillars of smoke filling the skyline where massive architectural giants once stood.  Men and women who lost loved ones have remarried.  Children who lost parents have grown up.  Senior citizens have passed away, babies have been born.  People go to work, to the store, to the movies.... our lives have returned to normal so by definition we have "recovered". 

Will we ever be the same again? No!  Our lives as Americans and world citizens, whether we live in downtown New York, Toyoko, or the panhandle of Texas, have been forever changed by the events of Tuesday September 11, 2001. We will never be the same, and we will never forget that day, but we have moved on to a place where we can "be well again."

God Bless America!