I Remember

I remember when we all thought we lived in the greatest, strongest country in the world, a colossus astride the globe, second to none. I remember watching the news or reading the paper and thinking how lucky I was to be here, and not where the facade of civilized society had been torn yet again by senseless violence. I remember when many of us thought that firefighters had a pretty cushy job with all that time off in exchange for spraying water on burning buildings. I remember when my biggest worry when flying was if there would be room in the overhead bin. I remember a Manhattan skyline, viewed from across the Hudson River, that ended with an improbable double exclamation point. I remember a morning with an azure blue sky...