The Tragedies of 9/11:

Cultural or Cyclonic, We are Reminded of Life’s Terrors and Tenderness.

Waking up in New York City on 9/11 is always difficult. Sixteen years on, and the receding shock is still too quickly being replaced with an endless aching sadness for those lost, and shame for our resignation to the fact that, despite the burning towers and the endless, senseless wars since, we seem to be unable to prevent the next man-made horror from unfolding. Waking up this morning, the always glorious September 11 New York sunshine also cruelly reminded me that my home in St Thomas, US Virgin Islands had been blown apart by Hurricane Irma several days ago.

Fortunately, my family and I were not on island when Irma hit. Fortunately, it is not our primary home. We have not been made hurricane homeless by this natural disaster, and I know that for me, this is one of those problems that has a solution. For that, I am grateful and humbled, for I also know that for so many others, Irma, a natural catastrophe, and 9/11, a man-made one, are real, eternal tragedies with no solution.

Some might argue that the tragedy of Irma, at least in its ferocity, has a man-made…