We the People
9.05.02
If you live in the United States, you can already hear the echoes of 9.11.01 thrumming across the airwaves and through the pages of magazines and newspapers as we collectively hold our breath and wait to see what 9.11.02 will bring.
God willing, that day will come and go with some degree of dignity. That’s probably too much to hope for given the commercial bonanza that the media and entertainment business intends to reap, what with all the commemorative editions and cavalcade of high-zoot, high-production-value remembrances now appearing on newsstands and televisions near you.
God willing, that day will come and go without some aggrieved soul from some far-off land finding the means and opportunity to strike another blow at the evil Satan of western civilization. That too may be too much to hope for. Time will tell.
I was there that day, something I may or may not choose to write about
again. Actually, I was there and not there. I had flown to New York City the day before with the intention of meeting four colleagues at the WTC for a 9:00 a.m. meeting. The day before leaving for NYC, I decided, for reasons that I still don’t fathom, not to go to that meeting. It was like a voice in my head kept saying, “don’t go.”
So I didn’t head downtown that morning. Instead, I stayed in my hotel up by Times Square and got ready for a meeting later in the day. I saw what you saw on television and struggled with what to think about the fact that I wasn’t there and I could have been. (I wrote about that experience in an essay called 9.11.01 if you’re interested.) In the end, I came to believe that I was protected by God for some reason I have yet to see.
Why?
The question on everyone’s lips that day and the days after was, “why?” What is it about us and our way of life that could generate such hatred and loathing? I don’t have a better answer to that than the next person, but I was
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© Copyright 2008, Kevin Hoffberg
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.