Today's third anniversary of the horrific September 11 attacks on the US will be especially poignant. With sadness, we will remember the nearly 3,000 who died on that day. But they will not be the only victims of terrorism who will be in our thoughts.
In Beslan, southern Russia, a grieving community is still burying its children - victims of a hostage crisis that left more than 330 people dead. And Indonesians are trying to come to terms with the death and destruction wreaked by Thursday's bomb blast in Jakarta.
The scenes are depressingly familiar. They have been played out in Bali and Baghdad, in Israel and Istanbul. The bombers have taken their toll in Moscow and Madrid. So the collective sense of grief evoked by memories of the September 11 attacks today is one Americans will share with many around the globe.
The devastating attacks using hijacked jets on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon forced the world to confront the threat posed by international terrorism. It is tragic that in the three years that have passed, this threat has not diminished.
When innocent people are losing their lives in conflicts almost on a daily basis, it is difficult to take a positive view of the post-September 11 world. But there are some welcome developments. America did not buckle. Even in New York, which was hit hardest, life has returned to something approaching normality. There are signs the wounds inflicted three years ago are finally beginning to heal.
Part of this is due to the fact that, remarkably, the US has escaped further terrorist attack. There have been many alerts, and some attempts have, no doubt, been foiled. But the tough security measures introduced in the aftermath of the attacks - and better use of intelligence - have, so far, kept America safe.