It is the pensiveness and forbearance of people in the
greater New York area that you most notice on 9/11 days.
We go about our business, but we know there are thousands
of people in our midst who are brimming with grief. We
do not know who as we mix with all the strangers around us.
We give everyone a wide berth. There is silence on this day
even with everyone at work, the kids in school, all the
stores open. And even if we are free of immediate loss, we
think back to that shimmering late summer morning five
years past. We have moved on, but the shock has not worn off;
each anniversary brings it back along with the sadness and
for most, the deep anger.
Going forward, it is that anger that most concerns me. It is
very powerful in us, but subtle. Perhaps it was exploited by
GWB to move the country to attack Iraq. I do not know. Ask him.
What I do know, as I read about how foreigners have lost their
regard for us and how we are seen as the primary danger in the
world, is that they too sense the anger. But, they underestimate
it, for they have seen only the wrath of an insouciant, spoiled
dilletante who inhabits our White House. They have not seen the
America I know lash out in earnest.
So on this day of quiet remembrance, it my hope that time will
pass peacefully enough to allow the fury within to dissipate and
that our enemies will not underestimate us......
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