Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Talking to Strangers


I wrote this at school yesterday/today so it's still pretty fresh on my mind. I'm not totally sure how much sense it makes so let me know what you think! Please be critical!

There goes the alarm clock. I’m awake now. A few moments later I’m standing at my closet, groggily searching for something suitable to wear, when suddenly there is a voice behind me. Its familiarity puts me at ease and for a moment or two we are lost in casual conversation. “How’s the weather been?” I ask? “Hot, as always,” he replies. That alone should give away his true identity, but blinded by charm I don’t see it. He’s handsome, so very very handsome. Just then, there is a tap on my shoulder. A turn of my head reveals a simple looking fellow with a neatly trimmed beard. There is nothing special about his appearance, but I can’t seem to keep my eyes off of him. When I turn back to m original conversation, I see out of the corner of my eye his previously upturned mouth swoop downward in an instant. What fault does he see in my first acquaintance? He calls me to him and I go. “Look,” he says, “not at him, but at his heart. His words may be passionate, but his soul will deceive you.” So once again I face my original company. This time when I take him in, however, I see someone else. Suddenly it is clear to me who this man is. I am sickened by own inability to recognize the evil before me. My heart beating fast, I cling to this new man, my savior. That is when I realize why he has captivated me so: He is breathing. His face is flushing and there is a pounding in his chest. This man is alive. He is alive and well and has vanquished his predecessor from his sights. He is alive and there is life with him. This man is the one I want, and it is with this man I will remain.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Never Forgotten

Yesterday. Yesterday was 9/11. Yesterday was a day we never saw coming. Yesterday was a day we'll never forget. Yesterday was the 10th anniversary of the event that rocked our country more than anything in the last 50 years. Yesterday the significance of that event really sank in for me. Last night I watched a special on CBS about two French film makers who were following around a rookie fire fighter in New York City (seven blocks from WTC) at the time. These were to the two guys who have the only known footage of the first plane hitting and the inside of the World Trade Centers. What I was most in awe of was the realness of it. The scene looked like an apocalypse straight out of Hollywood, yet those firefighters walked into it anyway. Here are a few quotes that I think seem to describe them well.

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important." - Ambrose Redmoon

"Courage is being afraid but going on anyhow." - Dan Rather

"A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer."  - Ralph Waldo Emerson

 See the resemblence?

"Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve."- President G.W. Bush

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" - John 15:13