I think for many of us Bay Staters, there are a massive number of 9/11 victims (like the Marathon bombing) only a degree or two of separation, which makes for a rather intensely emotional experience each anniversary. It's more a personal thing than most of the rest of the country, except DC, NY, PA, etc.
I was living in Winthrop at the time. The Atlantic ocean was literally right outside my door.
Two of the planes departed from Logan, as we all know.
Everyone has remarked on what a beautiful, cloudless blue sky it was in NYC that day. It was the same here.
I would often complain to myself about the frequent, irritating noise of plane traffic from Logan because of its proximity to Winthrop.
Not that day. Errily quite.
I had been aware of Bin Laden since the 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, as well as the 2000 attack on the USS Cole.
My brother Mike, who lives in Ohio, called me as I watched CNN.
"Do you think it was Hussein?"
"No. He has a return address."
I remember how shocking it was, of course -- I think a lot of Americans were walking around in shock during that time -- and how that day seemed to sever the thread of U.S. history. Everything that had come before -- Vietnam, Watergate, etc. -- suddenly felt starkly irrelevant.
More generally, think of all that has transpired since the turn of the century, from Bush v. Gore to the present. It's only been 22 years, but "we are through the looking glass now."
Garden of Remembrance, Boston Public Garden 9/11 Memorial
Time touches all more gently here
Here, where man has said, No:
trees and grass, and flowers will remain;
where the first-born sometimes sees
his father's father's eyes
reflected in the shallow pool
feels an ancient heart beat
in the palm of his hand
pressed against a willow;
and seeking comfort, seeking shade
lies beneath the golden leaf elm
watching swanboats glide in season.
Boston & Sea Poems
Lawrence Homer
Poet Laureate, Faneuil Hall
