It is one year since the attacks, and there’s lots being said about them, and the year since. At the time, many people felt that something had changed forever. I suppose something has (we have a greater understanding of what terrorism is all about, and perhaps a greater willingness to participate directly to prevent it), but I fear that the whole event and its remembrance have been reduced nearly to kitsch.

Aside from the nation-sized feelings about countries in conflict, and our role in the world, there were also a great deal of personal-sized feeling about heroes, and each other, and caring for small things. I have to (sadly) admit that I don’t see much changed on that scale in the past year. For example, I still see cars running red lights for some reason, often an SUV with a tattered American flag flying from its antenna, while the driver chats on a cell phone. With all the remembrance going on, there’s an awful lot of forgetting, too.