6:30 PM
The web's a quiet, somber place today. Appropriately so, I suppose. I've spent much of the day off talking to folks or doing creative things, so not much posting. Sorry.

For interesting 9/11 links, check out this MeFi thread, Yahoo's Living Memorial, and the September 11 Digital Archive. As always, Lileks has thoughtful things to say, as does Teresa. For an intriguing (if slightly cynical) view of news and events, see GNN's S-11 Redux.

As for my own thoughts, here's an excerpt from a message I wrote to the Monkeylist today as we discussed the profusion of memorial coverage:

I think today's memorials are important, if only because they keep the conversation going. And that conversation--the vox populi--is our
memory, our moderator; it keeps us from ever forgetting that the events occured while also preventing us from becoming insatiable creatures of anger and revenge. It's a conversation of countless voices, inherantly contradictory yet often surprisngly unified. While some have higher pulpits than others, everyone is free to join in.

In many senses, it's exactly why the events of a year ago occured. There are those who would rather the conversation be silenced than be forced
to debate and defend their own positions. But the conversation is like Pandora's Box, and now that it's loose it will be difficult--impossible!--to
capture it again.

If I may paraphrase and improvise: those who don't remember the past are doomed to repeat it, and those who don't plan for the future will have
none. And to quote: "Shared pain is lessened; shared joy is increased."

It's the conversation, and as I spend my day talking with friends not just from our country but around the world about the events of the last
year and beyond, it's what keeps hope alive in my heart that our destiny isn't stratification and stagnation but evolution.

I'm glad to be a part of it.