In Memoriam September 11

As I did last year, I am spending some time today thinking about what happened now four years ago in New York and at the Pentagon just outside Washington. Looking at those horrible pictures (which I think appropriate to link to only today of all days) is still emotionally devastating for me. I will take to my grave the mental images of my students—some of them as young as 10 or 11—asking me if their parents (who work at the White House, the Capitol, the Pentagon, everywhere in Washington) are dead.

REQUIESCANT IN PACE. WE WILL NOT FORGET YOU.

Pentagon employees and airplane passengers who died in the attack on the Pentagon, September 11, 2001
Please consider making a contribution to the Memorial for the Pentagon victims, which will cost about $12 million in private funds (to date they have raised some $8 million), with no money coming from the government. Contributions can be sent by mail to:

Pentagon Memorial Fund, Inc.
P.O. Box 6285
Arlington, VA 22206

Of course, after the events of the last weeks on the American Gulf coast, I cannot remember this day without wondering what the hell the United States government has been doing to "prepare" our country for disaster readiness. It does not make me feel good about our chances of getting out of Washington in the case of another terrorist attack. I'm trying not to think about it.