My first 9/11 as a New Yorker was thankfully uneventful, though it seemed to me there was a lot more security around on 9/10. All-day people were looking up, and pointing south, “Where were you?” conversations were overheard everywhere.

In some ways, it was just another 9/11 which is pretty sad. The news covered the anniversary with little enthusiasm; speeches, reading the names of the victims, and politicians made uninspired speeches.

I did have one moment though. Kristine sent me a PowerPoint presentation featuring dramatic photos of the destruction, pain, and terror of that day. I was sitting in a little restaurant on Carmine Street in Greenwich Village looking at the presentation, and at that moment the radio was playing My City Of Ruins by Bruce Springsteen. I was moved by the pictures, I was moved by the music, I was moved by the gut-wrenching emotion I was experiencing. I’m the guy who says, “People forget what happened on that day…” But I’d forgotten. I remebered the details, the ten thousand worthless facts, and figures, but I’d forgotten that feeling, that fear, anger, and dread.

In the evening of September 11, 2007, I had the opportunity to attend a seminar dealing with 9/11 and life in New York City; “Moving Beyond Anger.” First, there was a screening of a Bill Moyers documentary from the ’90s called Beyond Hate, followed by a discussion of how anger and hate manifest themselves in our daily lives.

The film was hard to watch. It painted a grim picture of our world from a pre-9/11 context, and things haven’t improved. Our discussion dealt with anger and hate from a Buddhist perspective, and though we never got into much about 9/11 specifically, it was interesting to discuss current events in the light of a 2500-year-old tradition.

Where were you?

Vinny (~~)