How are you emotionally re: 9/11?

Twice this morning I've seen pictures of the World Trade Center towers. First was a scene near the end of The Paper. Second was in a movie called Not Since You. It'd be overly dramatic to say my heart skipped a beat, but I realized that those pictures still give me emotional pause. I realized that my friend's son wasn't even born until three years later. I realized that the world was indeed changed in an infinite number of ways by that day.

We're ramping up to what surely will be a litany of 10th-anniversary stories about 9/11, but it occurred to me that people who were much closer to it than me -- and that includes no small number of you guys -- would have multiple reactions.

So what goes through your mind when you see those pictures? Is there any matter of satisfaction that bin Laden is dead? What things do you think about that have changed?

 

I never liked the actual buildings that made up the WTC complex. I thought they were ugly and I didn't like the way they were set off from the street grid.

But, they were such iconic parts of the City skyline that it still doesn't look right without them to me.

And, I worked in 4 WTC for seven years (and was there when the bomb went of in '93), so while I didn't like the architecture, it was still a second home to me.

Seeing them in TV shows or movies is odd, and I obviously notice, but it doesn't bother me. It's oddly nostalgic. That's the New York skyline I remember.

Bin Laden's killing does give me some satisfaction. It doesn't bring back my friends who were killed, but he had it coming. I hope he saw it coming and knew what was about to happen to him.

I'll always miss those buildings. I remember the first time I drove by the site and they weren't there. So bizarre.

And, when I finally visited the site (I had moved to Houston in 2000), it made me angry.

The fact that it's taken so long to rebuild on the site hasn't helped.

Lastly, I thought the "Lights" memorial they did was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.

 

Fatigued

 

I have moved on.
I have a life to lead.

 

I still am taken aback when I see the towers in movies, but never as much as when I popped "Pushing Tin" into the DVD player about a year ago. The pre-9/11 flick (a John Cusack/Billy Bob Thornton/Angeline Jolie tale about air traffic controllers) has an opening sequence with planes flying around NYC. All of the planes appear awfully low, but then there's one 3-or-4-second clip with them flying around the WTC. Eerie.