Ten Years

[President Obama and his national security team watch the season finale of The Jersey Shore.]
Did you hear that Osama bin Laden got got?

I wonder who the trigger-man was. Who on "SEAL TEAM SIX" made that ultimate score? That guy gets whatever the hell he wants from now on.

I watched the fuck out of CNN on Monday. Talking heads with small parcels of information, forced to stretch that material over hours and hours. Commentary on every angle, from everyone they can get on camera. Hours of shots of crowds just chanting "U.S.A.!!!"

It's strangely comforting.

It's been almost a decade combing the desert for this guy...

At a certain point, I stopped waiting for it.

People are using the word "closure" a lot. The death of bin Laden offers closure to people.

For me, I don't know. My world was completely different on September 11, 2001. I was engaged, living in Brooklyn, working at Bear Stearns. Those attacks hit hard. I remember being at work; everyone had already left and I was still trying to contact my fiancée.

I remember the uncertainty before it was clear who was responsible for the attacks.

The sense of urgency once it was clear who was responsible. That national desire for "justice" (revenge).

But we wouldn't get the satisfaction of "justice" for another 10 years.

Ten years. The entire sphere of people I care about is almost completely different than it was back then. Which, in its own way, is sort of heartbreaking. I can't turn to the person next to me and say, "Do you remember how we felt that day?"

A lot has changed in ten years.

Where do we go now...?