Sri Lanka, Sept. 6 -- It was another sunny September morning. The sky was a brilliant blue. As I gazed out of my kitchen window while having breakfast, in Mid Town Manhattan, the twin towers were glistening in the morning sun. I noted, as I often had, that they were still there, a familiar and reassuring sight although a German friend who was studying fengshui had commented that the sharp corners of the two buildings did not bode well. They were poisoned arrow tips.

I had returned to New York, still pleasantly warm, from cold but awe inspiring Alaska only the previous evening. It was time to get ready for the mayhem that would be the UN General Assembly in the coming weeks.

The cute young blonde in the apartment across the street was dr...