I cannot believe that 20 years have passed. In April that year, I travelled to Tokyo, never imagining how international travel might change. It did. I remember that afternoon (it was for us), and how the dial-up internet went down. We had no radio or TV at the office and we waited on phone calls for news. There was an air of surreal disbelief. We went home and for the first time, ever, turned on the TV and watched, aghast at what had, until then, just been the stuff of movies.
A few years later, I visited Ground Zero. I have been contemplating writing about that.
our politicians will have to live in the same world we do
From your lips to God's ears.
I know! In many ways those two decades feel as though they passed in a blink. I had only flown out of the country once prior to 9/11 and it was to Cancun Mexico. Pre-TSA things were a lot more relaxed. I actually brought a Leatherman multitool with me on the flight not realizing that it would be an issue (I was very naive back then). The flight crew took it, locked it up during the flight and gave it back to me after we touched down. These days I wouldn't have been detained for that.
We spent a lot of time in NYC in 2017-18 but I couldn't bring myself to visit Ground Zero. Maybe on some future trip.