September 11 was such a pivotal day for Americans; we've heard six years of stories that trace changed lives, attitudes and political priorities (remember President Bush's "humble foreign policy"?).

I think the New York Times does a worthwhile service to the memory of the tragedy -- and to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's leadership following it -- by reporting on his efforts to move the city beyond grief.

On Sept. 11, said Edward Skyler, a deputy mayor who, as campaign press secretary, had been with Mr. Bloomberg that day, the city “had been dealt an enormous emotional blow, but he didn’t want it to be a transformative blow for the worse.”

The attack “had clearly changed the city. but he didn’t want it to change the city’s fundamental can-do attitude,” Mr. Skyler said. “He has tried to find the right balance between remembering and rebuilding.”

That can-do attitude makes me proud of New Yorkers, and of Americans in general. As many have commented before (and Bloomberg notes in the quote above), paralysis because of fear or grief would extend the tragedy still further. I'm glad of Mayor Bloomberg's leadership; good leaders don't just dwell in the present, however difficult -- they think toward the future.

I'm not sure how much is attributable to the fact that New Yorkers are famously good at quickly getting on to the next thing and how much is the result of Bloomberg's leadership, but I sometimes think that Americans who live in places nowhere near the attacks of 9/11 -- friends and family from the Midwest come to mind -- have a more difficult time moving on than my friends and family in New York City. The administration's treatment of 9/11 has certainly been different than Mayor Bloomberg's -- perhaps a clue.

But if the past is any indication, it's only a matter of time before the rest of the country follows where New York leads.