What Day This Is

Today is, of course, 9/11 — a date that will always cause folks over a certain age to remember where they were that day in 2001, how they saw what happened happen and how it was so sad and so numbing at the same time. I woke up to messages on my answering machine — remember answering machines? — from friends who were already up and in the greatest of despair. And then I watched TV in a state of horror for hours and hours.

I watched the whole TV news footage of that day again some years back, acting as a kind of tour guide for a friend who'd been too young when it occurred to really have a sense of the national state of shock. And I was shocked all over again. And saddened. And numbed.

I wouldn't blame anyone who didn't want to relive all or any part of that day. But if you do, there are a few hundred — maybe a few thousand videos online. This one runs an hour and forty minutes and like I said, I wouldn't blame anyone who didn't want to tumble into all that darkness and woe again…