Response to: Leap by Brian Doyle
This past summer, i had the amazing opportunity to visit the 9/11 Memorial Museum in New York City. It was stunning to see all the architecture and the amazing work that was put into building those 2 buildings, which at the time were the tallest in the world.
What was even more stunning was walking through the section of the museum dedicated entirely to the incident that happened on the morning of September 11, 2001 . As you view the videos and pictures of the two planes crashing through the buildings, you can’t help but be captivated in alternating pangs of anger, and then grief, then back to anger, and back to grief once again.
You can’t help but feel remorse not only for the thousands of people that lost their lives in the incident, but for their families and loved ones as well. Even for the people who witnessed this catastrophe deserve some sort of sympathy.
The most chilling of the whole museum was one section, hidden behind closed doors, with a sign indicating that this room was not for the faint of heart. I took a deep breath not knowing what to expect, and walked into that room. I’ll never forget what i saw.
In that room, there were videos and pictures of exactly what Doyle wrote about. I saw men and woman falling thousands of feet to their deaths, flailing, and tumbling head-over-heals.
And this one couple. This couple holding hands as they fall to their death gave me the impression that love conquers all. That even though there are people with enough hate inside to kill so many innocent victims, love will still previal. Even in the most dire circumstances, falling to a certain death, human nature is to reach out, to grab a hand, in short: to love.
The feelings of patriotism grew internally in my heart that day. It made a desire in me to protect the country i love, to fend of terrorists that would do such horrible things, to love more, overall, it made me want to be a better person.