MORE FROM THE MAILBAG

This e-mail comes from a Straight Up reader who prefers to remain anonymous:

"I say BRAVO, Jimmy Breslin!!! I was across the street from the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001 and witnessed a jetliner traveling at ground level down Columbia Pike toward the Pentagon. I'll never forget the day — the smoke-filled air, the smell of burning diesel and charred flesh, people screaming and crying. Confusion and chaos. A horrible tragedy ...

There were many acts of courage and heroism that day. The firefighters and police were awesomely brave in their dedication to helping, at terrible risk to their own lives, those in trouble. ... As a nation, we should honor them for their astounding courage. ... But were those who died martyrs? I kinda think they'd be the first to tell you they were doing what they were trained to do and what their hearts directed them to do. No one intended to die on that horrible day, their intentions were to save life, not sacrifice it.

"Another example: I'm very happy Jessica Lynch made it home. But let's face it, she probably wasn't the bravest soldier in the conflict, she was simply someone in a terrible circumstance with a newsworthy story. Perhaps we delude ourselves into believing that if Jessica Lynch could be saved then maybe all those innocent kids dying in a strange place so far away from home could somehow be restored to us as well. But if Jessica is a hero, then every single soldier in Iraq is a national hero. Why don't we hear their stories, too?

"Sometimes, people find themselves in bad places in bad times, but this in and of itself does not make one a hero or martyr. It's as if simply being human makes us heroic these days. I don't have a problem with 9/11 remembrances so long as we use it as an opportunity for healing and not as a platform to further anyone's political agenda or help someone become famous for inappropriate reasons."