Five years ago, when it first happened, I didn’t know what to write. I think I still don’t, at least not today. You can find plenty of other people telling you what to think, or not to think, about the events of September 11. There will be speeches, I’m sure. There will be spin. There will be people, like our President, who will try to appropriate tragedy for political gain, engender fear where they should be offering hope.
But when all is said and done, for me, today, this day, is only about the people who died five years ago, about the tragedy and enormity of that terrible loss. Today we remember them, not as a sacrifice or a stark reminder or a politicized figure, but as human beings. Today we remember the loss we suffered five years ago. We commemorate the dead, we celebrate the living, and we try to build a better world from the ashes.