Today I was off to Downtown Manhattan after the Wind Symphony's rehearsal. The first stop on the list was Wall Street, which is actually a tiny, very unimpressive little 6 block street. I especially liked seeing Trinity Church, which received its charter from the King of England in 1697!
Ground Zero was a sobering place. We were later to see the sculpture that had resided at the Trade Centers. 
It was terribly damaged and was put on display with an eternal flame at Battery Park as a memorial to the tragedy of September 11, 2001.
After passing by the World Financial Center I saw the Irish Hunger Memorial, a replica of an Irish potato bog built to remind us of the 1,500,000 Irish people who died as a result of that famine (1845 - 1852) which forced countless others to flee to the United States. Further down the Hudson River Park/Esplanade, I came upon the Holocaust Museum, reminding the world of the 6,000,000 Jews that died at the hands of the Nazis.
The day was so utterly perfect, a refreshing continuous cool breeze against the skin, and high, expansive, whisping clouds fluorescing in the unending sunny blue sky, dramatic architecture raised heavenward, the statue of Liberty standing proudly in the harbor. This day was heaven on earth, an earth that has seen treachery and evil, senseless death and destruction.
Having seen in one place, at one time these three monuments to tragedy, juxtaposed against the perfect beauty of this place and time helped me put things in perspective. Our tragedy and our loss were significant in 2001, but do not compare to the millions who have suffered and died so needlessly at other times and in other places.
And I think that rather than conceptualizing evil as huge tragic events in other spaces and at other times, events about which we can do nothing, we need to look within ourselves, at our own day-to-day interactions with others, and do and be good. We need to eradicate the horror of evil from this world by being and doing good, being and doing kindness and tolerance, by welcoming good into this world through our own hands, feet, and mouths, 
by standing day to day against bad in its simplest forms as it crosses our paths.
This we can do. This can make a difference. This must be our contribution.
My walks today took me further, on to Battery Park (you can see the Statue of Liberty through the foot of the soldier in my picture), City Hall, the Woolworth Building, and across the Brooklyn Bridge, passing the South Street Seaport on the way to Brooklyn Heights, 
where I ventured down the Brooklyn Heights Promenade.
The view of Manhattan from the Promenade was spectacular! Before taking the subway back, I walked down Montaque Street, a delightful street full of trendy little street-side shops and restaurants in Brooklyn Heights.
This evening was the concert at Carnegie Hall. Three groups performed a spectacular program of musical works. The performances were exceptional, and I am happy to report that music education in the United States is alive and well, no, much more than that, it is flourishing.
The teenagers in the youth group, Metropolitan Atlanta Youth Wind Ensemble, performed brilliantly to a packed hall. I wasn't just impressed. I was stunned! The adults in the community group, The Atlanta Wind Symphony, represent most every conceivable career path: airline pilots, doctors, lawyers, bankers, accountants, computer programmers, composers, policemen, professors, engineers, all brought together by their love of music which is only exceeded by their passion to perform it. Their performance was spectacular. I had never heard them perform, and was completely caught off guard--magnificent. 
The college students, in the National Wind Ensemble, were electrifying. I am so glad I had this experience as it renewed my faith in our youth and communities' desire to create more beauty on this earth. I was introduced to new repertoire splendidly delivered in one the world's truly great music halls.
Today was so beautiful and significant to me as to be magical.
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