Tonight I made the mistake, or maybe it wasn’t a mistake, of turning on the TV. Planning I suppose, to flip around, but when it came on there was footage from September 11th on MSNBC. I had planned on avoiding the media frenzy, fearing it would be nothing more than a montage of slow-motion, American Flags, somber music and other emotionally manipulative pap. But this was mostly just footage, and nothing MSNBC did could diminish the memories. Considering that it’s Rosh Hashana I guess this was appropriate.

It’s the little things; knowing so many of the stores in the background. Interviews on the corner near a friend’s house. The look on a man’s face in the background, staring into a video camera recording people crying on the sidewalk. I still wonder about the detachment that lets someone point their camera at other people while this was going on, but then I’ve never really aspired to journalism. Usually I carry a camera with me wherever I go, but on September 11th I didn’t take any pictures, or for a week following. Until Lila was born in March, I had almost stopped taking pictures completely. Those I did take were mostly of friends and their kids, with a few occasional attempts to do something creative again.

My screensaver of Lila photos came on and distracted from the TV every five minutes. In just our little circle of friends, seven new people opened their eyes since last September.