As I'm sure I don't need to tell you, this day marks the second anniversary of September 11th. The President will have already addressed us as a nation. The television will replay that awful day's events all over again. People will once more feel the shock, horror and anger that they felt, only now it will be tempered by two years' worth of sadness, mourning, regrets...

And hope. Always hope.

When I was given an invitation to write a piece about September 11th, again, I decided that I wanted to do it, but I didn't want to just rehash the same old story all over again. If I'd wanted to do that, I could just ask our editors to rerun One Year On one more time. And while I think that column is worth repeating, too much has happened between then and now for it to be rerun in good conscience.

(Besides: I'm often suspicious of op-ed columnists who rerun things they said more than a few months ago instead of writing something new. "Hi, I'm not at my desk right now, but here's my 'Away' Column...")

And then there's something else: I don't feel like looking back.

Yes, I know: everyone else is doing it. But I'm even more suspicious of people who have to mourn so conspicuously. It's almost as if they're trying to prove something, or else preempt suspicion of not caring at all.

That and - quite frankly - I've had a bellyful of looking back. I can remember that day, and how I felt about it, well enough without having to relive it all over again every year thereafter. Maybe I'll pay attention again on September 11th, 2006, when the five year anniversary comes out, but until then, I'm not going to make a public spectacle of looking back.

I feel like looking forward, instead.

So let's imagine it's September 11th of the year 2006. That's three years away from today. Where would you like to be, as a nation, on what will be the 5th anniversary of the worst terrorist attack on American soil?

If I had to answer in one word, it would be "secure." I'd like to be out of the War on Terror. And I would like to be able to say that the whole world won.

I'd like to be able to say that we all came together once more and started working as one, rather than as disparate hands scrabbling for the escape hatch. I'd like to say that we all agreed to wage cultural and economic war - backed up by the occasional, high-tech (read "low or nil civilian death toll") military maneuver - against those nations who support terrorism, or else turn a blind eye to it. I'd like to say that the UN either acted as a facilitator in this, having done some growing up in the meantime, or else found itself pushed to the side by its own intransigence and ineffectual practices, and didn't even try to get in the way.

I'd like to say that all races, cultures, creeds and religions were able to stand behind this effort. I'd like to say that the effort included not only the democracies and republics of the world, but also those nations who were not democratic. And I'd like to say that they were welcomed in as equal partners in spite of that, as the democracies were wise enough to know that representative government requires social revolution from within, and not browbeating from without, to blossom.

I'd like to say that we all agreed on a definition of Terrorism. I'd like to say that definition didn't exclude or excuse actions any one of us might have supported, or even taken part of, before that point. I'd also like to say that we all agreed to let bygones be bygones for the time being, and focus on the mutual threat, rather than pointing fingers at one another over past misdeeds. And I'd like to say that, in the end, we all worked things out in an amicable fashion.

I'd like to say we fought that war wisely and well, and that as of now it is a very rare state indeed that isn't more than 101% forthcoming with intelligence, compliance and action when terrorism rears its head inside their borders. I'd like to say that those few states that don't cooperate are completely and totally cut off from contact with the outside world at large, until such time as they clean up their act and grow up.

I'd like to say that this list of rogue states, once in the double digits, has since dwindled down to less than ten. And I'd like to say that their leaders don't dare do so much as make a threatening speech, anymore. Terror has ceased to be a viable weapon in their hands, and so - while they remain actively isolated by our combined forces - we have declared an end to the War.

I'd like to say the majority of nations are mostly on the same team, again. I'd like to say that we're able to have our small differences and squabbles without losing sight of the greater issues at hand. I'd like to say that we've all remained sovereign nations, without surrendering our national wills to some weird "World Police" or "Advisory" council.

And I'd really like to be able to say that we managed to strike a good balance between precaution and personal freedom, here at home. I'd like to say that we all managed to root out terrorists and their supporters without overly-infringing on the rights of our citizens during the war, itself. And I'd be happy to say that, once the war was more or less concluded, we were able to get back to normal.' Certain, high-tech safeguards developed during the struggle would remain in place, of course, but the days of gross, "one size fits all" methods of prevention and interception would be over.

War would be over.

The war would be won, and by the good guys, once again. The ordinary folks. The folks who trusted in justice and sanity, however slow these things might take to evidence themselves, over injustice and insanity, however tempting they may sometimes be to use towards the "greater good." The folks who were unwilling to be divided by hate-breeders, whether they were shouting from the back of a donkey cart in Kabul or a cushy chair on FOX News. The folks who were willing to say that military action is sometimes necessary, however unpleasant, but were - and still are - wisely distrustful of those who call for a new "Operation" every three to four months.

I'd like to say that my children are going to grow up in a world where those ordinary folks may have to worry about famine, plague, war and death, but will not have to worry too much about being shot, stabbed, poisoned, kidnapped, tortured and/or flown into a national landmark by some overzealous whack-job with a convoluted political point to prove.

In short, I'd like to stand over the grave of Terrorism and piss on it. And I hope to Goddess that one day I can. And if so, I will.

I hope to see these things in my lifetime. I hope to see these things start coming together soon. I hope that I, and those like me, are not dismissed as dreamers, cranks or people "who just don't get it," especially when those who do the dismissing don't have any ideas beyond "shoot this person," "discriminate against these people" or "nuke this region from orbit, just to be sure."

I hope, instead, that the goodwill of an entire race of people - the human race, in all its glory - can bring us all together in spite of pride, cynicism, questionable prior arrangements and ego. I hope we can all get over ourselves and give working together a try.

I hope. Always hope.

And I think that's something to look forward to, rather than back.