9/11

Fighter jets are over the house. It's a different house now but it takes me right back to 9/11. And I don't need to go back there.

Tributes are all over the place. There's a miniseries on ABC and a feature film in the multiplex. Bush is running around the city grabbing every photo op he can find. All signals that we're allowed to feel sad. And that we haven't learned a damn thing.

I was a mile away from the towers when the planes hit. I remember seeing one tower standing. I ran uptown to get Renee and walk her over the bridge home. The swarm of people silently walking over the bridge made me realize what we were that day. Refugees.

We breathed in asbestos for two weeks. The government let us know that a month later. That should have been a tip off to how we were reacting.

In the five years since the attack we've gone from the most sympathized country to the most hated. We pretended to beef up security by frightening our own citizens. And, after sending troops in to find Bin Ladin, we redirected them into Iraq. It's like beating up the smallest kid in your class because the bully picked on you.

In every way, an event that should have woken us out of our complacency made us more selfish. We've proven ourselves to the be petty, immature country the rest of the world suspected we were. September 11, 2001 was a turning point for us. I can't help but feel we turned the wrong way.