6

Today is September 11th weather. There is warm sun, perfect sky, soft breeze, the echoes of summer, and the anticipation of fall all at once. The calendar says September 12 today, but I feel the echoes of the 6th anniversary much more strongly than I did yesterday.

Six years and one day ago, I thought "How could something so horrible happen on a day that's so beautiful?" On September 11, 2001, the fighter jets zoomed over my house, the Pentagon burned before my eyes, and I wanted to get the bad guys.

I'm six years older now; I'm six years wiser. In that time, the most important thing I've learned is that I know even less than I thought I did. There used to be good days and bad guys. Not anymore. If only the categories were so simple.

It turns out that good days and bad guys are hard to come by, as are bad days and good guys. Bad things happen on good days and then the days become less good. Good people become less good, maybe a little bad. Bad guys are hard to find, but sometimes when they turn up, they would rather be good, if we let them. We can turn them bad, though, if we choose to.