So Presidents Obama and W. showed up together at a Ground Zero remembrance. It's a 9/11 miracle! Yes, Virginia, there is bipartisanship!
The Solipsist has a couple of friends. Really! Anyway, this particular couple of friends is two friends who are a couple. They've been married 12 years. Not ABOUT 12 years--exactly 12 years today. Their cotton anniversary was certainly memorable. We imagine, though, that there are couples who today are celebrating their tin anniversary against an exponentially more somber backdrop. (Well, serves 'em right. Who gets married on a Tuesday?)
Last year, in this space, we provided our own "Where were you when. . .?" story. While we never say never, we expect this will be our final official observation of this hallowed day. While we'll never forget, there is a time to relegate things to history, and if even some of those most deeply affected by the 9/11 attacks feel it's time to move on (as reported in today's Times), who are we to argue?
Because ultimately, today is just another day that an arbitrary calendrical system has invested with significance. The significance remains, for better or worse, whether we mark the date or not. And as our aforementioned friends know, the date can mean so much more. Thousands of people were born on this date ten years ago; thousands more died in tragedies far more mundane and far less reported than those that occurred on our country's east coast.
We send out our thoughts and worthless agnostic prayers to those who suffered and continue to suffer from the events of this day ten years ago. We fervently wish that, somehow, we as a nation can recapture some of the communal spirit that surfaced all-too briefly in those frenetic days. And we turn our attention, finally, to the future.
Rise up.
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