"What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?"

–Gandhi

September 11, 2003
Nothing You Haven't Heard

time 2:57 pm feeling inquisitive ready for some clarity next do some Capstone work

Bad things are happening in this world. Bad things happen everyday, Mom. NO. TURN ON YOUR TV. Sorry to be such a hippie but I think we should all just go home and be nice to each other. Can planes be flying over Minneapolis right now? ...I don't even want to say.

"It's only a story, it's not real, it's only a story!" Have you seen Neverending Story, when he says that and everything's storming and crashing all around? "It's not real, it's only a story!" he cries, so confused, so scared, ready to escape from whatever he's strung himself into. To most of us, it is only a story, but apparently this year it means we forget.

It's only a story... I have no part in this, I have no claim. It was just last year, in fact, that I denounced the whole thing, scolded what we do as fellow selfish Americans, wondered what made a country so damn important that we warned even others to stay safe. Who did, who do, we think we are?, I asked, ask now. But further removed and closer to calm there is a higher sense of clarity, a realization that what to me is only a story, to others, so many, is so vivid and so real, and a crash of everything in their lives.

And even though I am 100% removed from any of it, even though I am so lucky to have absolutely nothing harmed in my life by that terrible day, it is still a part of our time; it's still our time. And whether or not I like it, there is always something to learn, and the sooner I forget, the harder the failed lessons will hit. Bad things happen every day, Mom. Yeah. But that doesn't mean we can't react.

What I wrote last year, though, is a little more important:

"But most importantly, more important than all of my blather, so important that it is nothing but selfishness that lets me keep what I wrote above in this journal, is to remember those who suffered.

There's nothing more I can say about that."

---Lexi