It’s been four months and 28 days.

Christmas was celebrated. The ball dropped in Times Square on New Year’s Eve.

The Diamondbacks won the World Series. The Patriots won the Super Bowl.

It seems we’re finally starting to recover from Sept. 11.

But wait – there’s still the Olympics.

On Wednesday the International Olympics Committee changed its mind and gave the United States another opportunity to remind the world that Sept. 11 really did happen.

As if our “War on Terrorism” wasn’t reminder enough.

The World Trade Center flag, honored at the Super Bowl and World Series, will be honored at the Olympics too.

The flag will be brought in after the parade of athletes and raised with the Olympic flag during the national anthem. Plans could change depending on weather conditions, but Mitt Romney, Salt Lake chief organizer for the Olympics said it is their “intention that this flag is the flag that will be honored.”

Again.

There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that America suffered a terrible loss on Sept. 11. There is no doubt that we should continue to remember the victims and heroes from that day. There is no doubt we should be proud of the way our country has rallied in the four months and 28 days since then.

But this is not an American event, this is an event of an international scale.

It includes nations that have lost just as much as the United States. Nations that lost citizens on Sept. 11 and in other horrible events since.

The toppling of the World Trade Center may have been the most dramatic loss, but numbers add up quickly everywhere.

While we may be hosting the Olympics, we need to remember the games are not about us, not about America and its loss. The Olympics are about nations across the globe gathering together for sporting events; for competition.

Americans may want to continue honoring their heroes and victims, but the rest of the world should not have to jump on the Sept. 11 bandwagon with us.

America is in a war on terrorism that is quickly losing popularity on the international level.

Our allies are uncomfortable with what’s happening at Guantanamo Bay, unsure of where we’ll go next in our hunt for terrorists abroad.

And let’s not get started on President Bush’s “axis of evil” comment in his State of the Union address. It’s already scared enough people both at home and abroad.

The Olympics are not about us. And even though we’ve made every event since Sept. 11 about us, when it comes to the Olympics – a worldwide event – every nation is on an equal level. Which means the World Trade Center flag should be put away.

editorialboard: Andrea Hauser, Tim Paluch, Michelle Kann, Zach Calef, Charlie Weaver