Thoughts from the Day After

I’m writing this column on Sept. 12—the last day beforewe must go to the printer. I had planned to write about software, butit’s impossible to concentrate on technology now. I don’tthink I have anything particularly important to say aboutyesterday’s incomprehensible events, but I can’t makemyself think about anything else.

To those of you who work with David Angell, Berry Berenson, DougGowell of Avid, Danny Lewin of Akamai, and all those who lost lovedones and friends, the thoughts of everyone at Millimeter arewith you. And to everyone who lives and works in NewYork—including Millimeter’s own New York-basededitors—we are all mindful of the unique losses you haveexperienced. Even though it has been a long time since I lived atFranklin and Varick, it’s hard to accept that a city I love hasbeen violated so profanely.

Today people are already claiming that this will not change us. ButI’m sure that we are changed in many ways we don’t evenunderstand yet, some that may even ultimately bring good. It’salso clear that while we were pondering the entertainment potential ofdigital video and the web, we never guessed how technology would definethis terrible event: We have never seen any moment in history soimmediately and so intimately.

I know several distinguished Vietnam-era cameramen who waded intothe fray with film cameras, knowing they were potentially transformingdemocracy with their images. In retrospect they also know that theycould only show one viewpoint at a time, unable to completely avoid thebias inherent in all pictures. This time, with the devastating speed ofamateur newsgathering, images have filled our television screens andraced across the Internet unedited and unfiltered. This brings its ownkind of bias as we each assemble our individual collages from the massof raw material.

Now we must become our own editors, sorting through the pictures tofind our place again, to rebuild our beliefs and priorities. Thepictures will call out to us to participate. I think they will compelus to exercise our citizenship more seriously because we can’tsay we didn’t know, we didn’t see. These pictures of lossalso reaffirm what we have not lost—our fundamentalprivilege to communicate freely, question ourselves, inspire eachother, and participate in the decisions of our democracy.

By the time you read this, who knows what will have transpired. Ihope whatever it is will be in keeping with the enormous dignity thatso many people have already shown. I hope that the pictures of hatethat are burned in our brains will somehow vanquish hate from all ourhearts so we can see the way forward. Can any picture be thatpowerful?

Cynthia Wisehart is the Editorial Director of Millimeterand Video Systems.