h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I was home on sick leave. I have the pleasure of fostering a lung infection that can catch me unawares at times. So, anyway, I was at home. I think the first thing I saw was a message on an Internet Bulletin Board that stated that one of the Towers had been hit. For some reason it didn't register. So, a few minutes later I switched the TV on and there it was before me. At that point only a single Tower had been hit and my wife came through and was distraught at the site. She lived in America for 12 years... so it must have felt very close to home indeed. She immediately tried to get in touch with family in the States... but then again, so was everyone. We spent the day in a blur watching the media show the same scenes again and again until we were numb. We explained what had happened as best we could when our kids came home from school and watched the tragedy go on for days and weeks.

Over the last year I think very little has changed... except its suddenly become a colder and more paranoid world where even friends are treated with suspicion. There are still the same problems, still the same economic hills to climb, still the same madmen and murderers, saint and saviours. I don't think the world has changed that much at all.

How will I be marking the day? By ignoring it. Last night there was a documentary about the Flight 93 (or 94?) and I went to bed. I don't want to analyze this event or pick it apart. It would be like surviving a road accident and then returning to the scene a year later to see if I can find a piece of broken windscreen or torn fender. I can still see the images in my head with disturbing clarity - and seeing them from other angles while people dissect them will not make anything change. I shall mark the day like any other... by just being me. By working, by worrying about my own troubles and family, by providing for those closest to me. This is a great tragedy indeed... but picking through the wreckage won't change anything for anyone.