The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
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    It's Always September 12th

    By Dan Kervick on Sun, 09/11/2011 - 12:18pm |

    On September 11 anniversaries, I like to remember the buildings themselves, and what they meant - and still mean - as an expression of the American spirit of ambition, optimism and progress.

    I also celebrate the triumphant feat of the genius Philippe Petit, whose art and courage asserted human mastery over alien giants, and integrated them into the life of a resurgent city.  Watch these in order:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mxg__MDzN_E

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2v-P4c5xOxE

    No memorial speeches and funereal spectacles for me today.   I understand that the anniversary of the September 11 attack is a difficult day of remembrance for the people who lost loved ones on that day.   But their lives aren't my life and their experience is not my experience.   Every day is a difficult day of remembrance for someone, somewhere.   So should we all wear sackcloth every hour?  I repudiate these obsessive rituals of grief, mourning, and pessimism.

    The World Trade Center buildings are gone, but building never stops.  What was built before will be built again, and surpassed 100-fold by human optimism and creativity.  Those who wish to remain attached to the past through grief will be left behind.  The future belongs to the people who are playing, creating and building today - and who don't even know what day it is.

    Onward.

    Comments

     

    Though memorials are necessary, remembrance essential, becoming stuck in despair and wallowing in sorrow is stultifying. Continuing on is the way out of grief and back into the bright light of tomorrow.


    by MrSmith1 on Sun, 09/11/2011 - 2:00pm

    Thanks.  Your post is so much friendlier than the one I was tempted to post.  The wallowing in grief at the time was excessive and the same old, same old are still at it ten years later.   And then there are the freaky aspects.  I saw (but did not read) one article about children who were embryos when their parent(s) died in the attacks [shivery ugh].

    I like the videos and stories you use for counter programming.  I tend to remind myself of Flight 93's ordinary passengers who suddenly became warriors.  Very inspirational.

     


    by EmmaZahn on Sun, 09/11/2011 - 3:03pm

    Dan, thanks for reminding everyone of the horrorshow that was the WTC prior to 9/11.

    And thank you for a beautifully written tribute to life.


    by Red Planet on Sun, 09/11/2011 - 3:28pm

    I don't think it was a horrorshow.  Did you watch all three parts?


    by Dan Kervick on Sun, 09/11/2011 - 3:39pm

     

    I watched to the end. It's a marvelous story of how we human beings create, destroy, adapt, incorporate and keep moving on. Thanks again.


    by Red Planet on Sun, 09/11/2011 - 4:03pm

    Three words"

     

    Field of Blackbirds


    by jollyroger on Sun, 09/11/2011 - 3:33pm

    The problem with memorializing 9/11 is giving a stamp of approval (however indirectly) to what Bushco turned the horrific event into.


    by Peter Schwartz on Mon, 09/12/2011 - 5:09pm