A Tribute to September 11th
The other day I read the following passage in Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday:
“We are at a wonderful ball where the champagne sparkles in every glass and soft laughter falls upon the summer air. We know at some moment the black horsemen will come shattering through the terrace doors wreaking vengeance and scattering the survivors… Those who leave early are saved, but the ball is so splendid no one wants to leave while there is still time. So everybody keeps asking — what time is it? But none of the clocks have hands.”
While this passage was originally intended to serve as a metaphor for economic crises, I felt it was a beautiful metaphor for the anniversary in which we remember those who we lost on September 11, 2001.
Everybody remembers where they were on this tragic day, especially young twenty somethings like myself. We were finishing up elementary school or entering middle school, and this was the first time in which our young, impressionable brains tried to comprehend pure evil.
They did what? A plane flew into a 100+ story building? That many people died?
It just didn’t make sense. And it shouldn’t have to. We should never have to attempt to comprehend the evil that motivated these acts of violence…
Evil exists and it always will. It can strike at any moment, as we are well aware.
But when evil does strike and when the tears have dried and the dust has settled, we are reminded that good will always overcome because that is when our true strength and resilience is revealed…
Thousands were lost on this tragic day 15 years ago. This wasn’t a loss for America, it was a loss for humanity…
Here in New York City, you don’t need to walk down the street for more than a few minutes to see others from the widest variety of races, backgrounds and walks of life. When those towers fell, thousands of individuals from every corner of the globe were taken from us, far too soon.
But in this loss, we again saw people from everywhere united and fight the only fight worth fighting…
Not the fight of Democrats versus Republicans or Trump versus Hillary or whites versus blacks, but the fight of good versus evil.
Every day I go to sleep and wake up in the greatest city in the world. I spend my days blown away by the incredible opportunities available to me in this city, and this nation.
I simply don’t know when evil will strike next, or when my timeline will run out — the clocks don’t have hands.
But I know that evil will strike again. Despite the pain and the suffering that it will surely cause, again, good will overcome. Because it always does, and always will.
In the meantime, I will continue to enjoy this wonderful ball that we call life…
You should, too, because we don’t know when it will end.
