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One
of the hazards of putting out a monthly magazine is dealing with what
my grade school teacher called current events. With nearly three months
between the time words are written and they are read, currency and relevancy
are always at risk. Jokes that elicited guffaws one week fall flat—or
worse, are considered in bad taste—the next, and issues that once
appeared crucial to the very survival of Western civilization suddenly
seem inconsequential. So you can see why we treat current events gingerly
here at Power & Motoryacht.
This
philosophy was much in our minds when we conceived “Best and Worst
2001,” a feature in this issue, last spring. We felt our readers
would find a half-wry, half-serious annual retrospective of topics relating
to boats and boating not only interesting reading, but also helpful in
putting the year into some kind of perspective. Indeed, we believed that
a one-year remove would allow us to more easily judge what was important
and what was in the end trivial in boating.
You
are reading this at or near year’s end; I am writing it on September
22. I can only guess what has happened between those two dates, what is
now really important in your mind. But a mere 11 days following the events
that erased the Twin Towers from the skyline just outside my window, I
am finding it hard to imagine anything of more impact and importance.
Nor can I imagine that the raw wounds we are all nursing have healed very
much.
And
yet life must go on. So as editor-in-chief, I’m faced with the question
of whether to recall the events of September 11 in our retrospective or
ignore them. In making that decision I am aware that this is, after all,
a boating magazine, and its franchise is the escape that immersion in
this particular sport can provide. It could be argued that the highest
service we can render our readers is to divert their attention from the
pain and pressure of everyday life. Besides, there is little that we can
say at this distance about that awful day that has not already been said
and said well.
On the
other hand, this was not just any current event. It was for most if not
all of us a life-changing experience, and so failing to mention it in
any annual retrospective would be disingenuous at best, an egregious omission
at worst. From this perspective, perhaps the best service we can render
our readers is to remind them that this holiday season much will be missing
for thousands of families, some of whom, I am sure, counted boating as
a treasured pastime.
I have
decided that September 11 touched each of us so deeply and so defined
2001, that we cannot in good conscience ignore it. And so when you turn
to our Best and Worst feature, you’ll see a picture of the Manhattan
skyline as it appeared from a Coast Guard patrol boat on September 11,
a skyline that even with our twin landmarks missing is still revered to
those who ply the waters of New York Harbor, our staff included. We hope
that you will find it another gentle reminder that although boats and
boating are important to everyone who writes and reads this magazine,
there are some things that occasionally transcend them in importance,
and this was certainly one of them. And after all, the events of that
day eventually revealed and defined the best and worst of mankind.
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