Tribute in Light

I got home late this evening from a meeting and noticed the American flag hanging outside my building.  Of course the eleventh anniversary of September 11th was on my mind quite a lot this morning,  though from mid afternoon until evening I was in a meeting and got caught up with the business of the day. I had forgotten about it until seeing the flag outside, which isn't usually there.

Before walking into my building I looked up to see the twin pillars of light soaring upward from across the river, bending upward to the heavens.  I went up on the roof deck and looked west to lower Manhattan and paused for a few minutes just absorbing the profound beauty of the Tribute in Light.   

My downstairs neighbors were also the roof, having a glass of wine, just quietly looking across the harbor at the city and the light.  We spoke for a few minutes and had the same conversation that most New Yorkers who were here that day have on September 11th - where you were that day and what you saw.   "I can't believe it's been eleven years," one of my neighbors said.  I thought about how the lights remind us to never forget, and that life goes on. 

Apparently on clear nights like tonight, you can see the Tribute in Light over 60 miles away.  Whether it's a distant beacon or as intimate as across the river,  the lights also serve their most basic function - to illuminate the darkness.