REMEMBERING 9/11/

Over the weekend, I finally got to watch "In Memoriam"- a documentary tribute to the Twin Tower Bombings. I got the DVD in the States on January 2003 and it shocked me to read that the bombings happened in 2001. That means I've waited four effin years to watch this damn documentary. I'm appalled at my lack of a sense of urgency. Despite the lengthy time gap, the video clips of the plane crashing still hit me the same way 5 years back.

Flashback.
I remember it distinctly. I was at Elb's place with Neil. We were cramming for an exam when all of a sudden I get a text from Eggy telling me to watch CNN- a plane has just crashed into the twin towers. My first reaction was that of utter disbelief. In my mind, I said that this had to be a hoax. But we turned the TV on anyway. What we saw made our blood turn cold. When the first plane crashed into the first tower, we thought it was some freakish accident. But when the second plane hit, we knew this had to be armageddon.

It then came as a shock when life continued on as usual. For the first time in my life, I was glued to CNN. Suddenly, I cared about world events. So many things had just happened .. a great symbol of capitalism crumbled... people were jumping out of buildings... more than 2,000 people were dead... a great nation was under attack... the world was divided. And yet, I was forced to take a test I was not able to study for. The saying is true- The world will continue on rising and setting even if you don't want it to.

The documentary brought about many memories. Surprisingly, it reminded me of happier times- my first visit to New York. I spent an entire day with my bestfriend and we went up the Empire State Building. At the viewing deck, we lit up a cigarette and flicked the ashes at the clouds bellow us. That was late 2002 and once again the Empire dominated the sky because the Twin Towers was reduced to a gaping hole in the ground.

So many things have happened since then... but has anything really changed? The sun has risen and set countless times... but who has moved on?