" It was impossible to look out on the city from high up without thinking for a second of 9/11, even nine years later. Any overarching view of the city seemed to call for a brief, noble hush. Smokestacks steamed; lights stuttered; there was movement along the grid. The quiet moment now wasn’t unpleasurable. It was just a moment of seriousness, born in something terrible, but now uncoupled from it. "
― Meg Wolitzer , The Female Persuasion