5 Years Later

We know what happened 5 years ago today.

I recall how I learned of the events. My school happened to have a late start that day, and I was buttoning my uniform when my brother alerted me to a story on CNN, about a plane that had crashed into the World Trade Center. My initial response was WTF – what a lousy pilot – and then I headed to school, not really thinking much of it. Then, just the class was to be dismissed for lunch, my accounting teacher, Mr. Paris, announced that the Pentagon and South tower and Pentagon had also been hit, that both towers had collapsed - and I knew something was horribly amiss.

At the cafeteria we speculated with teenaged giddiness as to what other cities and landmarks were hit, and that afternoon Ms. Larendowicz rolled out the TV – defying the wishes of the administration as I recall – and, with absolute horror and indignation, we all watched the carnage before our eyes.

Living today in the New York City orbit means I am exposed to the events to a great degree; it means I’ll be subject to a lot of flashbacks and reflections and tributes and memorials and speculation and moral hand-wringing. There’s an element of sombreness and sobriety around this city; all the flags around the office have been flying at half-mast for the past week, and I don’t think it’s because of the Crocodile Hunter.

There has always been something that has attracted me to America, or at least the principles of its founding. There is something romantic about the American creed – a proposition nation born from the high ideals of liberty, a nation built by progressive waves of immigrants in search of a better life. America was a radical experiment in liberty and democracy and egalitarianism. Sure, in practice they were a little hypocritical - the right to vote only extended to white guys with property at first. But I think the most sterling testament to its greatness is that America, over its history, saw the injustices of its ways and aimed to remedy them. A culture that is able to look at itself and see the injustices in its midst and confront and purge its ills is the better one, and I think what sets it apart from its militant foes. And I think America’s foremost challenge is this: how does America confront a foe that is unwilling and seemingly incapable of looking at itself critically?

9/11 was the worst terrorist attack in history, yes, and for many days hence Lower Manhattan was enveloped in a cloud of smoke and dust reaped by the destruction of its masssive twin skyscrapers. But the image I will take away from 5 years ago is this: As the days passed on, the dust settled and the smoke and ashes began to clear. And amidst the rubble there peaked in the horizon Lady Liberty, standing gloriously as a beacon of hope and freedom and opportunity to the huddled masses of the world - a shining symbol of all that is great about America.