This week a new batch of aerial photos remind us of September 11.
What I’m reminded of is a subway ride.
From Manhattan to Brooklyn, when the train passes over the East River, conductors announce, “Last stop in Manhattan. Next stop, Brooklyn.” Today, it’s nothing. But the days and weeks after September 11, those words were everything: We were crossing the river to back to ordinariness.
Before continuing, make sure to listen this, an excerpt from a 1995 TAL story.
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In his late 20s, Kevin Kelly convinced himself he had only six months to live. He arrives at his family home on Halloween for what he believes is the last evening of his life. But instead:
The next morning I woke up, and it was as if I had my entire life again. I had my future again. There was nothing special about the day. I was reborn into ordinariness, but what more can one ask for?“
The challenge is to look at every thing we design, every unspecial day as a real moment, a real part in our future, regardless of ordinary.
[thx John]
