Anniversaries

Yesterday was difficult. I spent a good part of the day watching the one year anniversary of 9/11 on television. I found the reading of the victims names at Ground Zero deeply moving and entirely disturbing. It took more than two hours to read the 2801 names of the people who had lost their lives at the World Trade Center one year ago. Each name represented a human life lost and countless family members and friends that were devastated. There were of course services in Washington and Pennsylvania but it was the sight of the families of the victims at Ground Zero walking down the long ramp into the pit that I found to be especially moving. Having been to the pit in person in August, and now to watch on television as thousands of people descended into it, laying flowers in remembrance of their loved ones at the very site of the catastrophe, was almost too much to bear. Late in the day President Bush and his wife came to Ground Zero and spent time shaking hands and meeting the survivors at the footprint of the North Tower. Again I could not help but tear up at the sight of this. The care with which President Bush greeted and spoke with, and sometimes even hugged and kissed each person in the crowd, astounded me. Even the CNN commentators were moved and could not contain their feelings, as their voices noticeably soften as they spoke about what they were witnessing.