Among the ashes.

All there is now of the town is ashes.

Mountains of ashes. Shattered glass.

Glittering cliffs of glass all shattered …

You wanted justice, didn’t you?

We did. We still do. But as we look to a world beyond our age, to the world of tomorrow that will be created by the students of today, who are the children of 9/11, the desire for justice involves accepting that all forms of justice are imperfect, and that rough justice must someday be sublimated to law or the world will perish.

Rest was fitful for the officers at Freshkills, sleeping in a tent with an artificial Christmas tree standing near a grief-counseling station. “Sometimes it’s too much,” said the weary NYPD Lieutenant in charge, “sometimes they need to talk, or just to sleep.” Christmas carols played softly from a boom box as the workers slept dreamless in the tee shirts the team designed, the shirts that read, simply, “Opus Dei.”

God’s work.

John Farmer, former Senior Council and team leader to the 9/11 commission, is the dean of Rutgers School of Law-Newark. He is also the author of The Ground Truth: The Story of America’s Defense on 9/11, and a frequent contributor to The Star Ledger and The New York Times.