As I have mentioned before, I wind up in New York most weekends and this one is no exception. I’m staying in the Financial District, as I usually do, where there has been a particularly eerie spell cast over the streets. Cops are patrolling the area, one should have an ID handy, clergy members are not permitted to take part in this weekends ceremony, etc. It feels extremely dystopian.
I’m sure I’ll have a longer post tomorrow, but today’s sentiment is really not something to be happy about. We were attacked ten years ago largely because of our commitment to a free society, which feels just as threatened when my movement is tracked so closely. I’m not angry that there is a high concentration of military and policemen; I know they mean well and I feel safe. But it’s hard to feel like the world is a safer place now than it was ten years ago.
September 11 brought out some of the best in New Yorkers and, if anything decent can come from the anniversary of an act of terror, it should be the spirit that followed. For instance, Scott Heiferman found himself talking to more neighbors in the days after 9/11 than ever before. People said hello to neighbors helped each other, etc. which inspired him to co-found meetup.com: using the internet to get off the internet — and grow local communities.
Friendship is the way we should respond this weekend.
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