mourning on tisha b'av

     I think that the reason that it can be difficult mourning on Tisha B'Av is that it happened so long ago that we don't even realize what we have lost. There is not one person alive today has  lived in Israel at the time of the bais hamikdash.  We all know what those days might have been like from studying about it but we never actually experienced it. Those of us who have been in Israel during holidays have a pinky of an inkling of what it may have been like, but really we do not really know the glory of what it was like. Its kind of like what people 300 years from now will be thinking about 9/11. They will remember the tragedy but they won't feel the pain. This is why remembering the holocaust has been included on Tisha B'Av. Even though many of us were not born then we know or know of many who unfortunately did go through it. It makes it easier to relate to . In any event, had the bais hamikdash not been destroyed and had we not been in galus the holocaust would not have happened.  Perhaps 9/11 would not have happened either. Who knows?  This is why we mourn.
      Another way of relating to the mourning during Tisha B'Av is to relate it to the feeling one  has when a loved one passed away. One may not have a year of avelus when one's grandparent , aunt or uncle passes away, but one is sad and mourns their loss. Though the loss of the bais hamikdash should feel like the loss of a parent, if we felt it like the loss of any beloved friend or relative we would be in the spirit of the day. I admit that I don't always have the proper feeling during Tisha B'Av , but I did have that ominous feeling when I entered shul  for the reading of eichah. I felt that pang one feels when one walks into a shiva house . Hopefully we won't be observing Tisha B'Av much longer and the geulah will arrive.