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09/11/2006: "Wake-Up Call!"

Just hearing someone speak those numbers still gives me a slight sense of dread. "9-11."

It's like the alarm clock that SCREAMS seemingly way too early in the morning. The reaction is always the same. "Damn it! Is it time to get up already?" "That can't be right!" But, of course it is. Our wake up call called.

Now, years after that awful morning jolt, the panic, the confusion, the fire, the death, the dust and the stunning inhumanity of the attacks, has anything changed? Well, billions of dollars have been spent, the conflict rages on, suspects remain on the loose, security remains a hot issue, we've grown more suspicious of one another and "The Towers" haven't been rebuilt. You do the math.



However, my true answer is, I just don't know. It was the morning slap in the face that actually made you want to go back to sleep. Who had the moral fortitude to face that? Unfortunately, no one had a choice. Even now, it remains a mystery. It's so easy to say that we now value life much more or that we don't take anything for granted, both of which are certainly true. Yet, the ultimate life lesson here seems as evasive as a pinata to the blindfolded ... and this definitely was NOT a party. As part of a job assignment, I drove to New York City a couple of days after the attack. The scene was still so smoky and urgent and tragic and needless.

Also, on the first anniversary of 9-11, I flew to New York City. My home. I had to. I wanted to prove to myself that terror wasn't going to terrorize me. There were only a handful of people on that big plane. Maybe five, including me. It was eerily quiet and everyone knew why. As it turns out, it was the smoothest plane trip I've ever experienced. Still, nothing is as heartbreaking as looking at that skyline from way up high and not seeing those buildings. It's a crippled scene. It's a ripped canvas that some ill-willed person slashed.

I grew up with those buildings. It's like looking at your face in the mirror and seeing that your nose and mouth are horribly gone. How can this be? During my visit, I had to buy one of those inexpensive photographs that street vendors sell to tourists. It's a black and white nighttime scene of The Towers all aglow. I'm looking at it as I write this now.

Since that horrible day, have you noticed the number of films that have used The Towers in their scenery? It's inspiring, yet also crushing. They've become nostalgia. I haven't been able to see any of the films about the events of that week ... "United 93" or "World Trade Center." I'm never one to reject art of any kind, but it just seems too early. Too many questions are unanswered. Too many loose ends are still dangling. Too many people are still suffering overwhelming loss.

Do you know why it has taken so long to come up with a replacement for the old World Trade Center? Because it was art (among many other reasons)! People don't really notice art until it's gone. It was a stunning thing for all eyes to see. It was architecture well worth any visit. I remember seeing The Towers as a kid. They, along with the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building and many others, always ushered the way. They were beacons of promise to a bright-eyed youngster who was always dazzled by the city (and still is). I actually remember counting all of the buildings that I fell in love with. Perhaps that's when I became an art collector. Again, I don't know. Unfortunately, people cannot be replaced. People are much more important than the most beautiful buildings. Still, I'm anxiously awaiting what comes next. In the artworld something always does. And you know what we should do? We should build them TALLER, WIDER, STRONGER and BETTER. The new WT!
C should be the WORLD'S new crown jewel ... the centerpiece of a living skyline gallery. Wouldn't that be a spectacular tribute to those lost? If I were among them, that's what I would want ... BE BOLD! LIVE ON! But that's just me. Just imagine all of these hands pushing brick, mortar, concrete and glass upward from their burning graves. Taller than ever. Soaring tribute. At the very least, whatever comes should remind us that there's art in stone and that art can touch the sky. In a way, it can help us live again. Art should push us upward, outward and forward. Sure, there may be concern and fear, but we will move on ... for THEM. That's if we can work together.

As for the alarms, they're still ringing, we're still cursing them and some of us are still going back to sleep.

Replies: 17 Comments

on Tuesday, September 19th, Frank Ettenberg said

Thinking out of the box - yes we must do that so that those who would destroy the west might reconsider.

Yes I think a humble monument is in order; yes a hole in the
ground.

The notion of biggest and best may very well kill us all if that
is still indulged in. See--the acceleration of global warming.

If we can all knuckle down & realize that it is correct now to
be humble and to start solving our own problems ... we will also be helping the rest of the world. (here i'm talking to the USA)

And please may the current USA government pass into history ASAP...it will also be a great blessing to the rest of the world.

Sat nam.....FE

on Saturday, September 16th, walt said

Jose, yes we have little real say in our lives especially when it comes to politics. But the beauty of being an artist is knowing that no matter how little say we actually have we can still have an opinion and by speaking it sometimes the world is persuaded.

on Wednesday, September 13th, jose said

It's as if this planet of ours sets its own balance, we really are like puppets and there is very little we can do. At best we should learn humility as quickly as possible. Just as we reach the point when we realise that a change is needed in our ways, half way across the globe everything is staring over anew and we are left with no moral authority to say a word: China has discovered capitalism and after many years of hardship is starting to embrace it with greater fierceness and less control than ever - the cost is a rate of 250.000 suicides a year (out of 2 million attempts!), towering cities are rising like mushrooms, brand names are produced in obscure places and sold for peanuts to the west but also to other countries who still endure hardship and can suddenly afford a semblance of the lives they believe us to live (they have MTV!). There is no knowing what that imbalance will engender, or when they will come round to their senses. If, as Mark points out, we don't start making greater efforts to understand each other's needs, globaly, the prospects are dim.

on Wednesday, September 13th, Mark said

I think the conversation has leaned to much in the direction of what to do about the scar in NY, and I am quilty of that as well. The real issue here (the attack is just a symptom)is not what to rebuild or not but what to do so such a horrible thing does not happen again, here or any where in the world. There is no difinitive action to prevnt it again. I do not think a war is the answer, nor do I think nation building is either or imposing ones belief on another. What I feel needs to happen is understanding amoung all the peole of the world, something which will never happen. That does not mean we should not try. Here in the USA we realy do not have a good history of understanding, but so it is true everywhere. Is it big oil, big business? Maybe, so what's new. Is it bad politics, power grabbing? Maybe, so what else is new. The world has gone on for a long time as man seems to want to destroy it as history proves out, but some how, some way, man continues on. We may not be the smartest creatures on this planet but we are resiliant. For better or worse. Here we just express opinions, strongly in some cases and with difinitive attitudes as if "I" and only "I" am right and all others are wrong. Truth is there is truth in what we all express. I wish in my heart that I could change all for the good, but being imperfect I am sure what I would do would only screw things up further. Can any of us say we have the answer, and be right in that statement? We can say it and even believe it but we would only be fooling ourselves.

on Wednesday, September 13th, walt said

Andrew, yes I've heard the argument that we must rebuild so that rents don't rise elsewhere. But in Brooklyn there are a lot of small individual homeowners who are poised to make a huge amount of money on properties they've invested in over the years. Why should we screw them in the process just because some other investors want to make out in Manhattan? You know it's six of one, half dozen of the other. It's a balance...economy and ecology are interconnected in that way. That's why they begin with the same prefix.

As to blame? I'm not blaming anyone per se. I'm suggesting we are all in it together and I think we all pretty much know what our mistakes have been in this cercumstance. And that a sacrificial ground has already been created. It's just a matter of recognizing it.

I think we have been feeding the terrorist mindset in the way we've responded to this tragedy. I think we fall right into their plans by allowing them to use our own values against us. I think anything we do that will foil their attempts will not be business as usual. It will take some thinnking out of the box. It will take actions on our part that no one would have predicted. So far we've simply been completely predictable.

on Wednesday, September 13th, Andrew said

Yes, Jose, 'A Winter's Tale', great book...have you read 'A Soldier in the Great War' also by Helprin? Touches on a variety of themes that we're dealing with right now.
I see a lot of finger pointing going on in these comments, mostly at Big Oil and Big Business.
There isn't a battlefield anywhere that eventually doesn't get covered over by woods or new buildings. New York's Trade Center area was a battlefield, with all the accessories that go along with a surprise attack. Mannattan's real estate value is such that by not using the space, you raise rents in the remaining buildings nearby(a natural aftercourse), you also deprive anyone who would participate in the new construction of jobs, and generally harm the economy of New York. I think these are reasons that have been examined in the decision to build again. Remembrance is one thing, dwelling in the shadow of a huge scar another. Psychologically it's unhealthy. Do we leave the space of the Edward R. Murrow building as a memorial to the monumental ignorance of a few people, or go forward in the spirit of optimism into the future?
The position we take when offered the opportunity to stand in judgement, that Michael has so courageously given us, is often based on a few very clear points that only become foggy, once everything else that needs to be considered for such a monumental undertaking affecting so many people, comes to be considered. It's easy to say, "It was all for oil" and that becomes a marching cry, something to yell to the masses to get them marching, only a very few having any idea what that means. Big oil. Yeah. It's all their fault.
I for one think each of us here is as ignorant about how the world works as 'they' are. Just in our own way, that's all. And without having our ideas influence the lives of too many people in any significant way. Laying blame is easy. It's what the lynch mobs did in the golden years of racism. Let's try to walk a careful path, of individual responsibility, and admit we are as much a part of the problem as anyone. Because we didn't do anything. We are just too oh-so-comfortable to make a difference. And that's a sad state of affairs for artists like us.

on Wednesday, September 13th, josé freitas cruz said

Brad, Walt, Vick, Mark, it’s heartening to hear you guys speak up and question things the way you do and not hide behind the mask of political correctness, especially over such a delicate matter. The debate about how we [in the west] have somehow taken a wrong turn somewhere – and have engaged in it wholeheartedly over the past five decades – is an essential one and I agree with you 100%, Vick, that when bonding becomes commercialised and the ribbons and flags make their appearance it is a sign of a certain degeneration. Like Mark said, and again I agree, we [I include Europe just as much as the US] have become a throw-away society.

Vick, I hope I didn’t sound insensitive in any way by what I have posted here. In my rush to reply I failed to say how your description of your brother’s suffering reminds me, at this far distance, of how much more has fallen than glass and steel – how many more victims there are than those missed. I am sorry about your brother and I hope that time and love will help heal his wounds.

Perhaps I am a little more sceptical about where we are heading and the forces that are driving us there. As a species, as a group [as a herd?] I doubt we will ever be able to take steps back. This ‘machine’ seems determined to head for the gorge. To stop and to reverse it requires an amount of Will-power and energy very few are able to generate and sustain, let alone pass on to the mass that gallops towards the abyss. It is a great paradox that such an unprecedented long period of peace and the possibility of prosperity it gave us have produced a monstrosity such as the society we presently represent.

Back in the jungle, watching it work, I had this sudden realisation that when we are gone from the face of the earth (through our very own misdoings) it will recover. The whole planet will bounce back. But very few of us understand this and insist on holding on instead of yielding to the wisdom nature shares with us daily. The controlling power of collective ego still moves too strongly in the wrong direction.

When I contemplate the replacement of the Twin Towers I am not suggesting that we should go along with things as they are simply because we cannot fight them - that we shouldn’t press for something else to appear there. No. And I really like the idea of the strobes of light pointing at the sky. But we are the ones on the side of the barricade that still isn’t being listened to: what we want, what we feel is important, will only be understood and accepted many years from now. It has always been that way, artists, writers, poets feed the decision-makers of tomorrow.

The fight to stop this new erection - the pun is appropriate - is lost as we write, is it not? The decision has already been taken to erect them (I thought the project had been revealed last week). To worry ourselves sick about this will lead us nowhere and will only deplete the energies we are able to collect with effort. What we have to concentrate our efforts on is in helping to shape the mindset of future generations and decision makers through our work. That is a battle we can still have a go at.

Too late? Hell, It’s been too late since the beginning of time, the only difference is that now we are starting to sense the proximity of the abyss… and nobody seems to be building a bridge.

[I once read a great book about NYC – ‘A Winter’s Tale’ by Mark Helprin. At the end they were trying to build a bridge of light, I wonder what happened to that idea?]

on Tuesday, September 12th, Brad said

Were it left to me - I'd turn the WTC hole into a lake with an island in its center, and maybe one beacon of light spilling it's way towards the heavens. America, as an idea of greater freedoms, has always been an island surrounded by a sea. WTC was one tragedy - one light dampened into darkness. The whole space is hallowed by the masked molecules of lives pulverized. Replacing the towers with more towers that are more shiny is poor imagination. I like Walt's train of thought...
"Leave the site vacant.... ...What a wonderful metaphor for the wealthiest country on earth... that we would sacrifice something so dear to us as a remembrance. Sometimes you accomplish more by not doing than by a grandiose act."
I so agree, Walt. We should keep it simple, spiritual, and return the space back to nature from the scar it is today.
Michael, thanks for bringing up the topic - not just for its timeliness, but for it's probing and underlying tone, touching the powers of representation. Were the towers art? Perhaps to the welder's and construction hands, the plumbers and electricians, and the finishing crews - maybe also to the people who kept it running, and even maybe to some who only worked there. You can't replace the life lost - but you can bring nature back to the space. Just as most American's have tried to save ANWR as one of their last great wilderness areas - protecting it from Big Oil - we all need to show governments that if we consume all nature - our core is lost and our humanity is surely doomed.

on Tuesday, September 12th, walt said

Jose,
good point. NYC is not Paris. And true again, Paris is not Paris anymore either. Really all I wanted to do there was to make the metaphor about light being an art form. By the way, I think I was wrong about when those towers of light were lit. I saw something on TV yesterday during the 9-11 remembrance that suggested it was just last year that they were lit.

Those kleg light towers were a sober, somber and very moving memorial and the last time I was in NY I really missed them. They, for me, suggested a searching for healing, forgiveness, an acknowledgement that sometimes our emphasis on commercialism (which I do not condemn in general) should be tempered...just because one is rich does not mean one should always flout ones wealth...and wealth does not necissarily mean one has the high moral ground. Wealth does not mean God loves you anymore than anyone else. Wealth is not by itself a badge of honor. It is a good thing in principle but so is charity, wisdom and good manners.

The lights are also relatively inexpensive compared to a huge building. Last design I saw was a glass building, very similar to the lights in effect. But we seem hell bent on spending a lot of money to prove something about our way of life and the wealth it generates. My point exactly. Leave the site vacant with only the kleg light towers and you will have sacrificed the most valuable plot of land on this continenent. What a wonderful metaphor for the wealthiest country on earth...that we would sacrifice something so dear to us as a rememberance. Sometimes you accomplish more by not doing than by a grandiose act.

I remember the arguments over the vietnam war memorial in DC. The idea of the wall of the names of dead soldiers pissed a lot of people off. Many argued it would be too minimal and abstract to have meaning to most Americans. Ross Perot even paid to have a more traditional figurative bronze of soldiers placed across from the wall because he felt it would be more positive. To be honest, even though I'm a fan of figurative sculpture that piece pales in comparison to the wall it faces. The figurative piece decends into propaganda. Yet today if you ask a vet about it you'll see the most amazing emotions come forth. That wall has become a magnetic testimonial to lives lost no matter what your beliefs about the war it remembers. Oddly enough it has become bi-partisan. It does not try to preach but by stating the truth so simply it allows one to apply what knowledge one has and simply mourn the loss of so many young lives. Those who argued against it have been proven wrong. Those who awarded the design had a deeper insight.

I would like to see less not more on that site. At the least I think we should take a long time before we rebuild on that site so that we have a real chance to get it right. The wrong design for the wrong reasons will have a cheapening effect.

on Tuesday, September 12th, Vick said

Mark, thanks for the thought about my brother. I am sorry for him, too. Jose, I respect what I have read posted from you before, you are a thoughtful sensitive ponderer on many topics.

I don't agree on rebuilding, though. For a short time after the collapse, I saw Americans bond together in a way we never have before, at least not in my lifetime (perhaps this was the way it was in the 1940's with WWII).

That bonding soon became commercialized--flags waving from car windows and magnetic ribbons. I won't even go into the irony of the fact that these flag images and everything related to them are made in China. Slap a magnetic ribbon on the SUV and feel patriotic. I think true patriotism requires us to digest this at more than a surface or jingoistic level.

As Americans we really need to think about our involvement in the politics of other countries and examine our motives for that activity. Why are we so interested in Iraqi "freedom"? Oil. Why do we ignore Africa? Nothing there we covet. Our noble intentions are revealed for the fraud they are when you look at where we are and why we are there and what we are choosing to ignore. We have plenty at the domestic level that could keep us busy, like a national health care plan or the return of decent social programming like Headstart or CETA job training. Most of the social programs were cut by Reagan and they never bounced back. Our country is now billions of dollars in debt and every American will be paying for that the rest of their lives.

To me building another bigger, better, badder, taller, more whatever tower is allowing us as a nation to continue to ignore what we should be examining and questioning. To question is patriotic, too, or at least that freedom was what this country was founded on. Now to question has become suspect, and twisted into something wierd about "supporting the troops" and that is mixing apples and oranges. One can support the human beings shipped off to possible death--we can support the people and not the cause or the reasons for the action.

When I travel to other countries, people ask me about the politics of America and are much more aware of what America is doing than the average American. In America we take a lot for granted, and I guess in some ways that is good and in some ways it is alarming. I wish more Americans traveled and saw other parts of the world to a greater degree, I think it would be good for most of us to travel more because when one returns home, there are some comparisons that can be made and some experiences that rise to the top and influence us in ways we can't predict. What I would like to come from 9/11 is some thoughtful consideration of what exactly it means to be an American in a global village. We need to learn to share and learn to be good neighbors. We need to get our head out of the sand and really see what is going on.

on Tuesday, September 12th, Mark said

Vick, So sorry about your brother. My brother suffered through Vietnam and it eventualy killed him, even though it was many years after. Those, like Vick's brother, acted when needed will always be changed, the shame is most of the rest of us will not, we go on thinking only of ourselves, maybe not individualy but as a collective group.

The movies, well I'll not go see them, nothing more to say there.

The buildings, well I agree with Jose that commerce is not a bad thing though it often does bad things. I still agree with Vick, that a scar is a better reminder then a shinny new building no matter how much like art it might be. But the shinny new will prevail as that is what society calls for. Cover up the pain and loss, remember it only on anniversaries and then with lots of pomp and ceremony to make the hurt less hurtfull. We are (I include much of the world here) a throw away society, lets throw away the pain the memory and have a shinny new toy. That way we can repeat what history has taught us not to repeat as we always do. If something has to be done where the buildings stood, make it a park with trees and flowers and where people can come and think, let it be a place of life instead of a dead shinny new building. List all the names of those who died there or because of what happened, much like the Vietnam Memorial, which of all memorials I have seen, is the most powerful.

As for buildings being art. Some are, some are not. Like what is art, that is a discussion that can go on forever.

Take care all and remember that we are here as stewarts of the planet, not rulers, not owners, no one should control another person or thing. I am not a religious person, but if we could all "Due unto others as you would have them due unto you" we would be better people and the world would be a better place.

on Tuesday, September 12th, jose said

Oh, and I agree about the movies, I don't think I'll be watching them at a theatre near me, or that I'd even consider buying a pirated copy at the gypsy market!

on Tuesday, September 12th, josé said

Pity that Michael won’t ‘show up’ to respond. I’ll play the devil’s advocate a bit longer to keep this up if this is OK with you guys because there’s an interesting topic lurking in here.

I tend to want to throw up at most of what Mr Trump has to say but NYC is not Paris, Walt, especially not the Paris of Fernand Leger’s time – and look what they’ve done to it, La Defense doesn’t really fit in. But the Sky-scraper is a New York trade mark, there is no way around that one. Fine enough, some like them some don’t, but that is not the point. To leave the gap would be like not filling in the space in our mouth where the bully knocked out our teeth. The Kaiser Wilhelm church in Berlin still stood – in ruins, sure, but it stood – and to my mind the memorial that rises parallel to it produces a striking and chilling effect.

Vick, I disagree. The towers were a work of art and inspired many who gazed upon them. While the argument that the reason they were targeted was because they were testaments to commerce may be true, it does not follow that we should perceive commerce as something negative. Unfair trade is the culprit, not trade. Trade is at the basis of civilization. Perhaps the new structures will become a symbol of the need we [Europe and the US] are meant to learn from this disaster to take on a new approach at the way we deal with those less fortunate than ourselves - to allow the ripples that have been set in motion to become one huge wave of change in our ways. It is either that, or more cause for horror in the future.

on Monday, September 11th, Vick said

Those buildings were not art. They were testaments to commerce, which is why they were targeted in the first place. I agree that they are missed in the skyline and catching a glimpse of the buildings in an old TV show or movie causes a little sharp intake of breath, but they were not art.

My younger brother was on the scene within a few hours of the event, a Red Cross trained First Responder. He was 23 years old at the time. All I know for sure is that kid isn't the same and will never be the same. He has post tramatic stress disorder. He found body parts. He lives in fear and has become a recluse. Building a bigger phallic symbol isn't the answer. I think the only true memorial is to leave a burned out hole, that truly reflects the impact on the lives affected more than any new building possibly could. Building over it is hiding the scar. The scar in this case needs to show, it it the most honest and holy thing that could reflect the scope of the loss. I like the lights on at night, symbolizing the buildings and their height, ghost lights for a ghost building, it fits.

I agree about the movies. Those movies thank God aren't doing well at the box office. I think everyone feels it is too soon to be spoon fed a Hollywood version of the event. No one film could capture it, could it? We all struggle with the aftermath in our own way.

on Monday, September 11th, Mark said

9/11, our lives have chaged forever because of that horrible day. Thats what They say. Has it? We still go on doing what we do. We still use tremedous amounts of oil. We fight new types of wars the old way. We look at the world as we always have, treat it as we always have. If it is a new battle, a new kind of war, a new kind of threat, why then do we react as we always have? Fight the new war in an old way? If an action always gives you the same result and you do not like the result then the action must change.

I believe the world has changed in some profound ways, but still it has changed not at all. A memorial, new and shinny may not be the best way to remember. When I was young I went to Berlin, there was a church there that had been bombed during World War II, they left it in a state of ruin. Yes beside it was a new shinny church. I was so young and dumb that I don't even remember the name of the church, and I knew little of World War II except from movies and TV. But this church, this blownout building that was left as a reminder of horrible times had a great impact on me, even though I did not understand it at the time. Leaving the scar can be a better reminder then a new and shinny bandaid.

I remember 9/11, my wife worked (still does) only a short distance from the Pentagon. I was teaching a class when my wife showed up and told me what happened. I can not tell you how I felt thinking how close I was to losing her, how lucky I felt I did not. A student said, "I am glad we have a Bible reading President" the look I gave her must have said volumes as she did not return. I will not go into my political or religious beliefs here, but I felt we are in a lot of trouble then and still do. And we are. If anything has changed, it has gotten worse. A shinny new memorial will not remind me of the brave, innocent victims of 9/11, it will remind me of how we took an opportunity for good and made it Hell.

I have a beautiful grandson, a perfect human being in my eyes. What will I tell him when he asks why people do such things? Just thinking of it makes me want to cry. I would make the world a good, safe place for him if I could. I can only hope to make him strong and be able to deal with the world, and do the little things we can to make it better. But always there will be others in power (in all countries) who will act for thier good, not, for our collective good.

on Monday, September 11th, josé freitas cruz said

A lot of talk is going on, even in my small corner of Iberia across the ocean from NYC, about whether or not 9/11 changed all of our lives - not just that of Americans. You bet it has! America took the brunt but we all shared in the shock and I think we still haven’t fully recovered or grasped the enormity of the wave the first ripples within us have set in motion. Even though I watched it thousands of miles away I still feel the nausea to this very day every time the images are aired on TV. Like the Holocaust and its implications, these are images and horrors humanity must not be allowed to forget regardless of whatever party they support. I agree with you Michael – Taller, Wider, Stronger, Better... and hopefully more Beautiful. NYC deserves it, the World deserves it, and through Art to silence all those who let loose this foolishness and still haven’t realised the horror. But let us not forget those other horrors our remembrance of this may cause to forget: Lebanon, Irak, Darfour, the exodus of Sub-Saharian Africans yearning to reach Europe... (the list is too long). If only artists and art could do more to shed light where light is needed.

on Monday, September 11th, walt said

Michael,

They had the replacement shortly after the clean up was complete. Two sets of lights approximately replacing the towers that shot up straight into the heavens like search lights. Well and that's what they were, stationary kleg lights. I was in Brooklyn for a week while this temporary memorial was set up and I have to tell you it did it for me. The first time I saw it I got shivers. I don't remember how long it was up. As I recall it was for the first anniversary of the tragedy.

I don't believe a brick and mortar building will be able to make the comparison. Think of it like the Day without Art aids project. Kinda like the Joni Mitchell song that says "you don't know what you got till its gone".

I heard Donald Trump say within a day or two of the disaster that we'd build the towers back even higher. I almost threw up thinking of what that would mean. I feel that the best memorial would be to eshew our materialism just once and allow the entire site to remain fallow except for two squares of powerful lights shooting straight up like ghosts, like prayers, not a replacement which will eventually cause the memory to fade but a memory not only of what was but more importantly of who died. Yes, it is the most expensive property in the world. All the more powerful reason to leave it vacant. What a powerful message since we were attacked because of our materialist tendancies...not so much as an answer to the terrorists or even to prove to the world that we can be a spiritual nation but as a statement to ourselves. That for our own reasons we would choose not to do business as usual here. That to show the value of our profit motive we would in this instance deny our normal temptation to hubris. How important it is to rise above our material nature, to break its bonds of subjegation...to be larger than our greed for more, bigger and better stuff.

Fernand Leger once suggested that Paris should become the city of lights. That it would be the most amazing work of art, a whole city as a work of art, corporeal yet ephemeral at the same time, both modern and universal. The towers are gone. But I'll never forget those two towers of lights shining into God's eye. Nothing they build will be so powerful.