As we remember 9/11...

Did the terrorists win? Maybe a little.

The Friday after the 2001 attacks, I went to New York City with Al Chaniewski, a photographer at the Hartford Courant, where I was a staff writer. We left Connecticut while it was still dark, and arrived at dawn, with the tip of Manhattan still smoking.

Al drove. He’d lined up a place for us to witness the aftermath. Al was the friend of a lot of firefi…