As the years (is it really almost 7 now?) after September 11th have stumbled by in something of a fog, and the militancy, hatred and violence of our world have shown no signs of abating, I have often been struck by a curious notion. It seems that – among Americans and Westerners in general – the farther away one was from the events of that day, the more strident the calls for some form of violent retribution, no matter how tenuous the links between the acts pursued in the name of “revenge” and the real causes of trauma on that day. Among those of us I know – I’m including myself and my friends – who were actually present in New York on that day, there was a lot of hurt, a lot of anger and a lot of emotional devastation; but, interestingly, almost everyone I know who saw those events in person has retained a sense that complexity, dialogue and increased information are the most fundamental weapons in the war on terror. Not MOABs and Daisy Cutters.