The details of the attack are well documented by now, though we are still searching for an estimated 4,700 missing persons in the rubble that is now the former World Trade Center. While it is true that America has been devastated by this tragedy, it is also true that the outcome of this terrorism has produced the exact opposite. All over the country, Americans are coming together. American flags are flying from buildings, big and small. They are flying from automobiles and bicycles, baby strollers and hard hats.
Flags are the new fashion statement on jeans and sweaters, scarves and tattoos.
Beyond the symbolism, however, Americans are bonding, seemingly for the first time, in the aftermath of the horror and outrage triggered by the attack. Over the past few days, I have shed tears of great sadness and tears of great anger. Such tears taste remarkably the same. I wept as I watched my fellow New Yorkers of all races run through the war-torn streets of lower Manhattan with their faces and bodies covered in a dull gray ash. It struck me how alike they were, these gray survivors.