9/11

The class of '27/8 wasn't yet alive on this dark date, but those of us who were will never forget where we were and what we were doing…

"Today is the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. 22 years ago on this date, in 2001, 19 al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial airplanes. Two of the planes were crashed into the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center; a third crashed into the Pentagon. On the fourth, which was bound for Washington, D.C., passengers attempted to take control of the plane and it ended up crashing near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Altogether, nearly 3,000 lives were lost — all the passengers and crew on board the planes, thousands of people who worked at the World Trade Center or were near the buildings, more than 100 in the Pentagon building, and hundreds of rescue workers.

On September 11, 2011, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said: "Ten years have passed since a perfect blue sky morning turned into the blackest of nights. Since then we've lived in sunshine and in shadow, and although we can never unsee what happened here, we can also see that children who lost their parents have grown into young adults, grandchildren have been born and good works and public service have taken root to honor those we loved and lost."

And President Obama said, 'Even the smallest act of service, the simplest act of kindness, is a way to honor those we lost, a way to reclaim that spirit of unity that followed 9/11.'"

https://open.substack.com/pub/thewritersalmanac/p/twa-from-monday-september-11-2017?r=35ogp&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post

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Posted 9.11.23:

Epicurus on “the most savory dish”and “the most agreeable moments”

Another good visit on Saturday with my beloved mentor [UPDATE: John Lachs died soon after this visit in the Fall of '23] , and the anniversary tomorrow of my dad's passing at age 79 in 2008, reinforces for me the wisdom of this epicurean attitude:

"… a correct comprehension of the fact that death means nothing to us makes the mortal aspect of life pleasurable, not by conferring on us a boundless period of time but by removing the yearning for deathlessness. …

This, the most horrifying of evils, means nothing to us, then, because so long as we are existent death is not present and whenever it is present we are nonexistent. …

The sophisticated person neither begs off from living nor dreads not living. …

As in the case of food he prefers the most savory dish to merely the larger portion, so in the case of time he garners to himself the most agreeable moments rather than the longest span…"

https://open.substack.com/pub/figsinwinter/p/epicurus-on-death-and-the-gods?r=35ogp&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post