It was only three years ago that the World Trade Center towers and Pentagon were attacked claiming thousands of lives. It's only recently been that the television networks ABC and NBC have announced plans to create a Sept. 11-themed miniseries. It'll be too soon if they ever make it to air.

Television is a popular medium for portraying serious issues without trivializing them. The 1970s miniseries "Roots" could be a good example of how television can help the public have a better understanding of historical issues. There's no doubt that television is capable of creating genuine tribute.

Programmers have said that airing the Sept. 11-based miniseries could come as soon as 2006. The timing is too near to the actual visuals that we all still carry of that Tuesday morning in September 2001. A director's interpretation, or a dramatization of the actual events, is a callous treatment of a national tragedy. Our generation will grow up with the memories still vivid in our minds of what we saw unfold on television. It'd be regretful for a producer's vision to replace that while the wounds are still fresh.

We are still in the process of gathering information and even though the towers are gone, it's an ongoing event. We are still dealing with the consequences on a daily basis because we see our soldiers fighting in Iraq on the pretense that Iraqis were somehow behind the terrorist attacks.

The show wouldn't do any good at this point. It would marginalize the actual heroism displayed on Sept. 11, and it would make heroes out of actors. Only a genuine, accurate reenactment would do the terrorist attacks justice, and anything less would be the wrong disaster movie for the wrong country at the wrong time. The after-effects of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks fade each day to be sure, but the long-lasting sentiments are going to carry through the ages as we, the witnesses to it, go on.

Shouldn't the president have an understanding of the 9-11 Commission Report before Hollywood does, anyway? Something to think about.