5 years on

i made my way down to ground zero today with 9/11s five year mark on everyones mind. im not a crybaby, so i was surprised at how emotional i was reading the timeline and viewing photos of the days events surrounding the new path station.

a quick study of the small crowd suggested mostly international folks and i was the lone wailer. i was simultaneously buoyed by their presence while feeling some nationalistic anger that they didnt seem equally moved. earlier in the day i picked up a copy of the onion, which satirized the lack of much progress on the site, thanks to bureaucracy and greed. some latino guys were hawking cheesy remembrance pamplets to onlookers.

both paper products seemed kinda blasphemous, but this being nyc, it was also strangely perfect. a guest on wnyc today talked about how everyone wants to own a piece of 9/11. most americans cant find the usa on a world map, but every one of us saw images of the collapsing towers. as the defining moment of a generation, 9/11 integrated itself into each of our identities, and i think that owning a bit of the tragedy makes us feel included and understood.