You know what’s great about America?

I mean, aside from the obvious.

It’s that every person on this terrible anniversary has decided for himself how best to mark it. Some went to the park outside my window--firemen from all the small communities in the county and school kids and office workers and politicians--and patiently stood beside the freshly washed fire engines and honored the memory of those who fell hundreds of miles away. Some marked the time quietly at home, turning off the television and walking with their kids in the bright sunshine. Some poured their thoughts into prose and poetry, searching for some way to make sense of the senseless. Some did nothing different. But they all did as they pleased. No matter what anyone else said about what was “most appropriate,” 281,421,906 people made up their own minds to celebrate or commemorate or sanctify or ponder or ignore or anguish or hate or honor this time as they saw fit.

You want yourself a “root cause”?

We are a free people.

As long as one of us is alive, freedom is alive.

That’s what’s great about America.