A solemn day, today, given the 9/11 anniversary.

I vividly recall being at home that morning, turning on the TV, and seeing the flaming tower, singular. I witnessed live the second plane hit, then watched in horror as the first building fell, then the second.

Horrible, horrible stuff, and sadly what followed wasn’t all that much better. We invaded Afghanistan, which made sense as Osama Bin Ladin was, the intelligence said, there. But it was also used, sadly, as an excuse to stage the Iraq invasion. Saddam Hussein, Iraq’s leader, had nothing to do with 9/11 but President George W. Bush and, I suspect especially, Vice President Cheney were eager to go after him. Hussein had, after all, tried to assassinate his father.

The world we live in today, sadly, still carries echoes of 9/11. We still have troops in Afghanistan and Iraq -and much of the Middle East- remains a mess. The current President doesn’t inspire much hope for any sort of resolution.

Incredibly, 19 years have passed since that attack.

One hopes we’re in a far better place 19 years from now.