so it's the third anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and i pose this question to you.

i personally was in my freshmen year of university. i was 19 years old. skool had just started a week ago, similar to today, and i was in my first lecture for east asian studies - humanities 1400. i really didnt know what to expect from the class and being that i arrived late, i chose the nearest open seat i could find.
surprisingly, regardless of the day's happenings, the lecture and professor went on with the course outline. at this point mind you, it's roughly 11am and i had no clue what was going on in the states.
anyways, in a class of 200 (90% being of east asian descent) a big white dude comes up to me, out of nowhere and taps me on the shoulder during the lecture (me out of all people. is it cause i dont look asian enough?...whatever that is..). being that university was something new to me, i really didnt know what to think. at first i thought i took his seat while he left to go take a dump in the washroom. then i realized i was wrong. white dude exclaims to me, "did you see what's going on in the u.s.?"
"no."
"there's a war going on there, man!"
[i think to myself] "what the hell is this guy raving about? leave me alone, cracker!"

at this point, in confusion and trying to pay attention to the man upfront lecturing i look over to my neighbour stranger and realize that the exchange chinese student next to me probably couldnt make any sense of what that guy said either.
fast forward to my 1hour break after that class and being that i knew virtually nobody at skool at this point, i headed my lonely ass to the arcade for some solace and maybe a little streetfighter. it was here that i saw a crowd of kids watching the surrounding monitors. and it was here, that i, myself, saw replays of the north tower going down..and eventually the south one.
whoever didnt feel chills going through them that day during those news exposures - congratulations, you are clinically dead.

for the rest of the day i was pretty much in a trance-like state. i went to my remaining lectures and looking back, i dont think anything sunk in. i dont think it should have anyhow.
as for my friends frequenting skool in the downtown core of toronto - from their accounts of the day, they were let out early for safety precautions that the c.n. tower would be a terrorist target.

and that's where i was that day.

everyone has their own days that change their lives.
take my mom for example, it was 9/11, the attempt on reagan's life and jfk jr.'s assassination along with the death of elvis that she remembers so sharply.

for me, at this point, it's probably 9/11 the most.

sure i was alive during that flurry of skool shootings during the 90s along with the oklahoma situation and even the gulf war, but i dont think i really understood the whole matter at those ages.

back to what's real here, let's just appreciate life today.
let's cut all the hatred out for one day. let's forget about terror, bin laden and al queda. we have the other 364 days of the year to do that. for this one day, let's just appreciate life and even the most minute things that are often overlooked - like having youre family around, clothes on your back, or even the ability to walk and function properly.
let's remember those who passed away.
let's not think about how they died but how they lived. let's live ourselves.
and i'll say it again, let's just celebrate life.
i think we tend to overlook these things nowdays, whether it be because of our involvement with skool, work, kids, parents, pets, bills etc. etc.
let's stop that from now on or at least, for this moment.

have you talked to God lately?



live motherfucker, live.