In Memoriam

A friend who works as a librarian in a prison writes:

"What are you doing Sept. 11? The prison is having memorial services all morning. This is a good thing. All the books I've bought on Taliban, Terrorism, Jihad, Sept. 11 are moving off the shelves (and surprisingly they are coming back to be re-circulated!)."

I can't remember a time of so much collective memorial as we're about to experience next week. The only thing I can compare it to is JFK's funeral in 1963. (I was a wee tot, but I vaguely recall the black-and-white TV images.) But that was a localized event in Washington, DC, that the rest of the nation could only experience vicariously. The Sept. 11 memorials are different, not least because it seems they will occur all over the country--even in prisons--and just about anyone who wants to participate in one will be able to do so (though obviously the most central events will be in New York).

I'm not planning to do anything special on the 11th. I may or may not watch the TV coverage. I'm still not sure I'm ready to relive it all. I do think things might start to feel different on Sept. 12, however, as, with the perspective of a full year, "that day" begins to slip into history.