MARKET WATCH COLUMNIST
“A day that will stay etched in our memory”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, September11, 2011
What is it about an anniversary? Some arbitrary date on a calendar. A point in distinct time 
commanding all of us: “Pay attention now.” Who needs mathematics to tell us when to mourn?
Surely, there is no wrong day to remember the innocents lost — and the innocence — on Sept. 11, 2001.
These were our friends, our neighbors, our relatives. Those we didn’t know came alive for us in the glare of shared public grief.
But 10 years later, this anniversary more than any since the first one suddenly feels like something real, which is a mixed blessing at best. A fresh terror threat this weekend. A gasp of official emotion at Ground Zero. The rounded magic of the number 10. Whatever it is, the command is insistent again.
“Remember 9/11.”
It’s a phrase that’s been used for so many purposes beyond simple remembering. Politicians have twisted it to promote assorted wars and crackdowns. Haters have hijacked it to defend all manner of prejudice. Others have been elected off it, made money off it and used it to justify all kinds of things.
But here’s the central, single fact that cuts through all else: Remember 9/11? Yes, we do. Nothing so bad ever 
happened so quickly. That is the power of this tragedy. It is part of all of us now. It always will be.
The march from that day to this one has been a decade of cognitive integration. That’s how the mind absorbs trauma — slowly, incompletely, ever on.
People died that day, and we changed forever. For those of us so close with no agendas at all, the memories fade until they rise again. They never go away.
THE NEXT ONE
- We don’t know when
- We don’t know where
- We don’t know how
- We don’t know who
- We do know why: There is evil in the world
THE NEWS IN SONG:
The simplest stories can be the most powerful ones:
“The Bravest” by Tom Paxton
ASKED AND UNANSWERED:
When’s the next big anniversary? It’s 20, right? Or is 15 round enough to catch this same kind of attention?…Unmowed lawns, cars on cinderblocks – and now runaway bamboo? Who’d ever
thought the skinny stalks would be the nightmare-neighbor tipoff in Smithtown, Islip and beyond?…Back-to-school faculty strike at CW Post? With the final offer averaging $95,000 for a 10-months work year ($133,000 including bennies, the admins say), how much student sympathy could the protesting profs expect?…What? You thought we’d panic at the latest terror warning? Really, how many of these have we now taken in stride?…Miss the scorching summer yet? Didn’t think so…When did the term “first responders” first hit general currency? Before or after 9/11?…
Kurt Doerbecker was (1) shot by a cop (2) in the back of the head (3) at his family’s Point Lookout home? Which of those three facts will be easy for Nassau police to explain, whatever the other relevant details?…Really, why did David Laffer kill four people in Medford’s Haven Drugs? Any chance we ever get the full answer to that?…Is anyone still arguing IN FAVOR of dumping boat sewerage into the Long Island Sound? That’s moot now, Cap’n. The EPA ban is finally law…Ali Lohan? Is that you in there? Even old friends are saying: “You look different now!”…Remember, new timetables on five LIRR lines? Remember which five?
LONG ISLANDERS OF THE WEEK:
THE GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
There’s no one else, not this weekend, not here, not now. When the Twin Towers came down, Long Island paid an especially heavy price. Wall Street’s bedroom community. Just a quick ride away. A top source of the workers who make this region go. Our people built those towers, died there and are rebuilding at the site now. Remembering won’t bring them back to us. But remember them we will.
E-mail ellis@henican.com.
Follow him at twitter.com/henican
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