Ten years. Does it feel like 10 years, more, or much less? I think for all of us it is different depending on the day. Today it feels much closer for me. Today we are sharing the Naudet brothers' movie with One for the first time, and that will bring it closer still. He was 20 months old when the attacks came; he's cruising towards 12 years old now at light speed. He's ready to know more. And so time passes.I really don't have anything to say on this day - nothing that means anything important or imparts any wisdom. That isn't surprising to me; I do hope it's not surprising to you, either. All I have are some quotes, some links to people much more eloquent than I, a picture, and not much else. It should be a day of fewer words than tears, perhaps. Less chatter, more resolve.
From James Lileks, September 21, 2001:
"I’m tired tonight. I’m tired of people who can watch 5,000 people from 62 nations burned alive and crushed to death, and think: well, you know you had this coming. I’m tired of people who presume I am ignorant of history because I hang a flag. No: Not tired. Annoyed. Annoyed like I was while walking Jasper Dog tonight, and passed the great high school football field at the end of the block. It was lit like noon, with huge banks of lights lluminating the field, blaring through the thick autumn fog. Grunts and shouts and whistles blowing. As natural and ordinary a September sight as you’ll see, and all I could think of were the lights hoisted over the site of the World Trade Center, casting flat dead light over men who pulled the arms and legs of people from the rubble.
It angered me that this ordinary sight had been soiled - then I thought: That’s where we are now. Think of it. Think of it when you turn the corner and the lights fade. Never forget.
Never."
Lileks again, from September 5, 2002.
The Mudville Gazette's story about Rick Rescorla, a hero among heroes on that day. I think Greyhawk's leading quote on Mudville is even more appropriate today than it is on all other days: "Good people sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."
And finally, and not as out-of-place as it sounds at first, a Budweiser commercial that Kate posted on Facebook yesterday:
UPDATED: More Lileks.
"O Lord, Who blessest those who bless Thee, and sanctifiest those who put their trust in Thee, save Thy people and bless Thine inheritance ... Grant peace to Thy world, to Thy Churches, to the Priests, to our Civil Authorities, to the Armed Forces and to all Thy people ... Now and for ever, and unto ages of ages."
