Remembering 9/11

At this moment, 9:59 am Eastern time for Americans, the south tower of the New York Word Trade Center collapsed. People reading names of the victims at the site this morning had gotten up to surnames beginning with "G."

This is the first time since 2001 that September 11 has fallen on a Tuesday.

Contrasting with that Tuesday, today's New York southside is a cold, wet place, with lines of mourners standing in the rain for their turn to drop flowers into a pool of water.

Ceremonies at "ground zero" probably won't be the same after this, for two reasons.

• Survivors and family members of those who didn't survive have been deciding more often to remember and mourn privately, or move on to another sort of remembrance.
• Construction at the site is changing the nature of ground zero. By this time next year, the new World Trade Center's general shape should be visible.

At 10:28 am, New York time, the north tower fell. That would be a good time to post this.

Let's not forget.