September 11, 2005

After four years, I am still not sure how to acknowledge the events of September 11, 2001. It would be grotesque to claim some type of personal effect, as I was not directly affected at all.  But there is no doubt that this was a world-changing day, so acting as though it were the same as any other day is not right either.

Yesterday Helen and I visited an open house sponsored by a local Islamic organization, which sought to introduce a proper understanding of Islam to the wider community.  The lady beside us came because some of the imams had come to her church, and she wanted to return the favor.
I had mixed feelings about the appropriateness of hosting this event on the anniversary of the attacks. There is no doubt that a perverted form of Islam led to these attacks, and that many peaceful and decent Muslims are feeling unfairly besieged.  At the same time, there are 364 other days in the year to make this case. It seemed unnecessarily provocative to do it yesterday.

Our other major event was attending a rollicking musical version of Shakespeare's "Two Gentlemen of Verona" in Central Park.  It was  a very playful adaptation of a light-hearted work.  But even here politics were not absent: the Duke of Milan cavalierly starts wars to serve his political purposes, which felt uncomfortably familiar given the President's deceptive linkage of the war in Iraq to 9/11. And if you had any doubt about this point, it was removed when a "Mission Accomplished" banner appeared on the stage, in Italian.

As we watched the performance, the two beam Tribute in Light was in the sky where the towers used to stand. They first appeared six months after the attacks, and now return on every anniversary. By this  morning the beams were gone, and we all got back to normal.