You know, 911 was always my lucky number as a kid. It was our locker number
at the tennis and swimming club that my folks belonged to. It was my locker combo at school. It kept recurring in my life with such frequency that I took it to be lucky. I would make important phone calls at 9:11 AM or PM.. I would hold my thumb… an austrian symbol of good luck and make a wish whenever I saw 911 .. on a clock, license plate, phone number, etc. The days Sept 11 or Nov 9th (in Europe they put day first) were always particularly auspicious.. In fact, Diane and I got engaged on Nov 9.. Sept 11 didn’t work because Diane had an exam.
   Then.. came 9/11 @001.. I remember I was giving a talk at the Math Department at U of Vermont. I had this watch that doubled as a pageer. When the first plane hit the world trade center my watch went off.. I read the short cryptic message about the attack on the small screen of my watch.. The room was silent.. A few minutes later, more messages.. as we all crowded around the tiny screen of my watch..
   Diane was away at a yoga training.. I drove home to be there when the kids came home.. I remember how hat whole day felt.. and the week after.. so vividly…

Every year since the echo of this day has felt strange.. This year there’s some bad energy around the burning of the Holy Quoran .. and the positioning of a mosque near ground zero. As a religious minority myself, I cna only hope that reason reigns eventually.. we need to learn not to hate.. no matter how hateful an enemy we see.. we have to learn tolerance of others beliefs and creeds .. no matter how hard that is. It’s not that love will fix the world.. there will always be extremists on all sides of all issues.. It’s just that Love has got to be our response to pain and suffering. We can’t control others.. only our own response. 

 I write the above as I’m about to board a plane to Sweden on 9/11.. It’s a wierd day to fly.. The TSA went through the science gear in my suitcase with a fine toothed comb.. I’m glad they did..  

More from Sweden tomorrow.
Nite all.. nite Sam
-me