I AM trying to recall New York on September 11, 2001, in the morning, one and a half hours before the attack on the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center. I was sitting on a bench in a small park not far from Penn Station, drinking coffee from a paper cup, alone, watching the street.

The day was just getting going, but already you could hear the voice of a soapbox preacher, across from a hotel, shouting through a loudspeaker, "Where will you