ABSTRACT
The attack on september 11 provoked New Yorkers’ best qualities—a combination of toughness and generosity, street smarts, and worldly perspective. Friends, colleagues, families, and especially strangers suspended their daily routines to enact a larger sense of purpose. We had a moment of simple clarity amidst the daily clutter of artifice. What is important? What is not? Massive terror forced each of us to live a moment stripped bare of all illusions. And the suddenness of our loss created a need to reach out, to talk, and to pull together.
