Do you remember what happened 10 years ago today? Where were you when you found out? Where you old enough that you remember those events today? I guarantee its one of those days you just don’t forget. If you are unaware or unsure of the day I am speaking of, today is September 11th or 9/11 as many of us have come to call that infamous day. The day New York City was attacked and two planes were crashed into the World Trade Center by a terrorist attack, a plane flew into the Pentagon, and another plane was crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Since that day 10 years ago I have asked my Nana and parents if they remember the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the assassination of JFK or Martin Luther King. Not only do they all remember these dates, but they also remember when and where they were when they heard the news, the emotions of those around them and their own emotions as they learned of the events. Its something you just don’t forget.
I remember I was on the playground during recess and we were asked to all stand looking at the flag and have a moment of silence. How silly I thought it was to hold up recess, but I also knew something very wrong had to have occurred for them to stop wild rambunctious kids from running and screaming at recess. When my Mom picked me up from school the radio was playing patriotic music and she told me that we had been attacked and the World Trade center had fallen. This year’s graduating class from high school is said to be the last group of kids to remember the event and to understand some of what had occurred on the day.
Since that day, stories have been released describing miracles, acts of courage, and strength of men and woman facing a terrible tragedy that day. A mother who’s son was sick so, she was late to work and arrived at the World Trade Center after the first plane had hit and learned her office was on one of the floors impacted by the first plane crash. A man who was on vacation with his family, but was supposed to be one of the pilots flying one of the planes on 9/11 but for his vacation. Other stories described the boats used to evacuate people off the island of Manhattan. This was the largest evacuation in history and became known as the “Boat Lift” where 500,000 people were evacuated in nine hours by average citizens and was larger than the Dunkirk evacuation in World War II.
After reading Oedipus Rex, fate becomes a legitimate question for survivors and victims of 9/11. Oedipus’ fate was to kill his father and marry his mother. In an attempt to change fate, Oedipus was left for dead as a child, only to be found by a shepard, and he eventually lives out his fate as prophesied by the oracle. The oracle did not, however, say that Oedipus would go blind and it was by his own hands that he became blind "The pain of the spikes where I had sight/ the flooding pain/ Of memory, never to be gouged out" so he could suffer for his actions. Though it was prophesied Oedipus would suffered this fate, it was Oedipus who killed the man on the road (his father), solved the Sphinx’s riddle, unknowingly married his mother "More primal than sin itself, this fell to me", and blinded himself. Even if our fates are known we still have this desire to try to change our fate to something more to our liking. A lesson learned from Oedipus Rex is that we cannot out run our fates, but must enjoy what we are given and accept what we have "Let every man in mankind's frailty/ Consider his last day; and let none/ Presume on his good fortune until he find/ Life, at his death, a memory without pain". During 9/11, many survivors of the catastrophe claim that if it had not been for another who sacrificed their own life, they would not be here today. In one case Bill Cosgrove claims the death of Mychal Judge, one of the men who ran into the North Tower with him, is the reason he survived 9/11-
“…[that] it’s my firm belief that the only reason I’m here today is because of him. I know what that sounds weird, but everybody you see in that picture was saved. And I’m sure had he not been there I would have been trying to look for other people. And when that North Tower fell, I would have been right in the middle of it, just like the rest of the firemen were, and some of my cops. But nothing was going to happen that day. At least, not to me”
Cosgrove believes that because of Judge’s actions his life was saved, and perhaps his fate was changed because of those actions of 9/11. Mychal Judge’s death certificate was the first recorded death at Ground Zero. After living a life as one of God’s priests and said to be the happiest man in the world and not deserving it, Judge was able to touch many people’s lives through his daily acts as well as his final actions on 9/11. Based on the words in a homily at his funeral Judge’s fate does not seem so permanent and his words and actions can continue to live on,
“And so, this morning we come to bury Myke Judge’s body, but not his spirit. We come to bury his voice, but not his message. We come to bury his hands, but not his good works. We come to bury his heart, but not his love. Never his love.”
Perhaps our fate can be out of our control, but the lesson we all can learn from 9/11 is that although our time here might be short, and we do not always have full control of our fate, we all can make a difference and that is our choice and no one else’s. For we will never forget those lost or heroes of that fateful day ten years ago.
To leave you with an image, the picture below can help direct you to discover where you stand on fate and how you are affected by fate. By covering the eyes in this picture it reflects the lack of ability to look into the soul. Eyes are often said to be the window to the soul, but by covering the eyes you cannot see what this person is truly like. By shutting oneself off from the world, it is as if to accept whatever comes by remaining ignorant to one’s surroundings solidifying fate without question. Although rejecting fate completely, seen through Oedipus’ own experience, will be as to consent with the fate chosen by the Gods. Although seen through the picture, a similar fate appears to have occurred to the stony - faced man by rejecting the outside world.
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