I watched several minutes of the Ground Zero ceremony on TV today. The workers were removing the last steel beam, one that had remained standing when the towers fell. They had draped it like a casket with a black shroud, an American flag and flowers, and then solemnly layed it on a flatbed truck. An empty stretcher was also placed in an ambulance. They saluted and played taps, then all the assembled dignataries applauded while the truck and ambulance pulled away.

At first, I thought this was all very odd. These people were saluting and mourning an empty ambulance and a hunk of steel! But then I realized that even quite abstract symbolism has tremendous power in this context. So does ceremony. It wasn't a piece of steel they were honoring--that was just a prop. It stood in for what--and who--was missing.

If you'd like to read my recollections of September 11 and the towers (I live across the river from where they stood), they're here. Photos, too.
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