Time Passes Quickly
9/11 Was 23 Years Ago Tomorrow
Second day of grad school, September 11th, 2001. Walking through Washington Square Park to class in the morning. I took my first photos from 6th Avenue and Washington Place and they were on black and white film. Since I'm fairly certain I was not carrying two cameras that day, I must have changed film at some point in the intervening two blocks. I had just seen a fire truck screaming the wrong way down 6th Avenue - the firemen were all standing and craning their bodies out the windows as they looked downtown. Things were beginning to feel strange, but not nearly as strange as they actually were. In the park, most people were standing around and looking south at the towers, one of which was still intact. Some park denizen was already standing on a box and screaming about divine retribution, but most people were just watching. It was bad, but it was only after the second tower got hit that people realized how bad it was
9/11 darkens September in such a way, I wish it would stop. Enough! Then I have to remind myself that such horrors, much like the Holocaust, must be remembered. I just wish this event hadn't precipitated such a long and useless war that killed thousands of people and destroyed so many families' lives, here and abroad. At this point, why do we have to commemorate our leaders' stupidity and greed as our nation becomes more divided? Why doesn't this event reunite us even for just a few days as it did back then?