When I was updating in the wee hours of this morning, posting an OOM to milliways_bar, I realised with a surprised little jolt that the Date:, above Userpic: and below Post to:, read 'September 11, 2007, 06:30'.

It's not any kind of capitulation to mark this day in your own way. The terrorists haven't won if you spend a little while in somber contemplation, or offer up a few quiet prayers or thoughts in remembrance of lives lost and lives ruined.

But I also mark today because, for the first time, it connected me to the rest of the world - and does still. I realised that we are all in this together. All of us. Today is not about death, for me. It's about rebirth.

Six years on, I feel... hopeful.

An inch. It's small and it's fragile and it's the only thing in this world worth having. We must never lose it, or sell it, or give it away. We must never let them take it from us. I don't know who you are, or whether you're a man or a woman. I may never see you. I will never hug you or cry with you or get drunk with you. But I love you. I hope that you escape this place. I hope that the world turns and that things get better, and that one day, people have roses again. I wish I could kiss you.                                                - Valerie

Looking at the timestamp, and my watch, I've spent over an hour writing this post. It's almost tomorrow, now.