It’s strange in the city today, the clear sky and September breeze automatically reminiscent of another perfect day, waking up in a different reality. I looked around on the subway at subdued tempers, an atmosphere weighted with significance, everyone retreating into their heads, their only companions their interior dialogue, that constant running commentary comforting only in its relentlessness. How am I supposed to feel, what is this day supposed to mean, what does my life consist of now, the lives of my loved ones, how is everything supposed to be in this transformed paradigm of our existence? Questions with no answers, no real meaning, but the instant power to trigger boiling cauldrons of self-generated suffering. The images screaming from every front page, website and TV screen fall on eyes that seem weary of the forced reminders and overdramatized headlines we’ve become so attuned to in our new media-savvy consciousness. Are we safer today? Who was really responsible? Is the steady stream of Hollywood movies and docu-dramas too soon? Too late? Chatter and fury clog the airwaves, filling already-crowded landfills of skepticism and confusion. Aloofness provides a comfortable insulation, blocking out the fear and burning questions. Will this happen again in our lifetimes? Will we be ready? How and when will all this turmoil, festering for so long just beneath our awareness, scald us again? Is resolution even an option? Is peace an illusion? There is no consolation, no warm blanket, no omniscient Oracle spewing reassurance. All we can do is be present, aware, letting feelings slide through at will, and take comfort in the fact that, while the future is inevitably hazy, at this moment we’re here, now, experiencing the delicious spectrum of emotions that make up the human condition. Is everyone ok? Getting by? Doing allright? Of course we are – we’re alive.