Not exactly 10 years ago from today

If you can't handle a 9/11 remembrance that isn't all flag-wavy and up with people, don't read this. 

  A few days after it happened, a friend who just moved to NYC from Ohio and I were walking in my neighborhood. It was another beautiful, sunny day. And so quiet in a suddenly car-less lower Manhattan. We saw the people taking advantage of this unique moment: The few restaurants that were open spread their outdoor seating from the sidewalk to the middle of West Broadway; children were released from their strollers and leashes, playing and giggling in the road; a tall, lithe gentleman in short-shorts and vintage headphones sailed down Houston on roller skates. Finally I felt something other than confusion or anger.

My hopeful, naive 24-year-old self saw all of this and thought maybe -- even while we were still inhaling the acrid dust of the violence that happened a dozen blocks below us -- something good could come of this. We could start new as a city, as a nation, even just as people. But that never happened. Things got worse than I could have imagined. And all I can think now is what a fucking shameful waste of life it all was. Tragedy with no remedy. Grief with no solace. It's not that the terrorists won, it's that humanity lost.