In Continuum.

9/12

If I could tell the world just one thing
It would be that we're all OK
And not to worry 'cause worry is wasteful
And useless in times like these

It seems awfully late to be remembering the tragic loss of lives,on that fateful morning,all the way on the other side of where i am now: New York,five years ago without the knowing of anybody.

I've always imagined Earth as a fishball,and if you were to poke a satay stick all the way from Singapore,through the center of the globe,you are going to reach New York.That is how far away New York seems to me,on the other end of the satay stick.So naturally,whatever happens over there have little or no effect on me,most of the time.But i remember that day,what i was doing when my mother burst into my room and told me about the news.

I won't be made useless
I won't be idle with despair
I will gather myself around my faith
For light does the darkness most fear

September the 12th was already coming to an end,and that night was a quiet and peaceful one,as i was on my bed back in the old room,reading The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R.Tolkien for the very first time,even before the movies were released.I was so innocent back then,a tender age of fifteen.World affairs were nothing more than events happening halfway around the world,used by the media to earn money through viewership.I know,i was disgustingly immature back then,but my perspectives have drastically changed,and looking back i was in such an utter mess,i must admit.

My mother came into my room,and told me that a plane just crashed into the World Trade Centre,and later proceeded to asking me if i know what that building is.I was rather ignorant,but that didnt mean i was stupid.I knew,but i took no heed of that,because the same incident happened to the Empire State Building in the early 30s,when a plane crashed into the building by accident as well.But this time was different,as i later discovered watching the news in the dimly lid living room.It was an act of terrorism,a term so close at hand now,but lightyears away back then i didnt even know wither to spell it with a "Z" or "S" at the very end.

My hands are small, I know
But they're not yours, they are my own
But they're not yours, they are my own
And I am never broken

So there it was,smoke towering over the landmark we all knew so well.Those two pinnacles of power,the symbols of America's wealth,it's power,and it's freedom,standing in full view of the Statue of Liberty,now a raging fire climbing the sides of the walls,dispensing into clouds of smoke,dissolving into the clouds of the morning sky.It looked almost fake,like some badly timed joke from a movie studio to promote the latest disaster movie.But it wasnt the case;it was actually happening,as i stood there,stunned and dumbfounded.

I remember the silence in the livingroom that night,as we all watched the television.Nobody really spoke anything,as the camera from the helicopter kept circling the towers.People werent sure about the motives of the attacks,or if they were attacks at all.But one thing was for sure: Death was involved,and it was everywhere.People plunging off the buring towers,bodies flying through the air,only to meet the cold hard ground below.Fireman rushing towards the scene,sirens going off through the streets of New York,people with their mouths covered in shock,while others filmed in awe,at the spectacle before their eyes,almost biblical,almost too horrific to be real.

Poverty stole your golden shoes
It didn't steal your laughter
And heartache came to visit me
But I knew it wasn't ever after

I remember the first words were uttered by my mother,as the first tower came crashing down."It's down,it collapsed".I didnt believe her,and denied what i saw,arguing that it was merely the angle of the camera,secretly hoping that the fireman would rescue the people in the building,put out the fire,evacuate the area and save the day.Sure,that's what happens in the perfect world,that's what happens in the world without terrorism.

But it wasnt the case that day,that fateful morning.The tower did collapse,and so did the other tower only minutes after.The crashing of the second plane,the deep rumble of the crumbling towers through the speakers of the television,the tremling only felt by the vibration of the woofer under the television.You almost believed,that the vibrations under your feet werent that of the big black box,but rather the debris from the other side of the globe,the other side of the great fishball.

So there,it happened.Thousands of lives lost in that very moment in time.Just like that,a flick of the fingers,or the weakening of the structure of the building.So fragile,our human lives,against every aspect of our lives.Who wouldve known,that other than mother nature,the greatest threat to mankind is mankind itself?The act of killing,the bloodshed that was involved,couldnt have been measured,simply because it was so instantaneous,so sudden.I dont think,i dont suppose,anybody can,or couldve comprehended that number of lives that disappeared into the rubble that very morning,on the other side of our home,and how much it is going to affect us right here.All the way over here.

We'll fight, not out of spite
For someone must stand up for what's right
'Cause where there's a man who has no voice
There ours shall go singing

Five years later,people around the world remember this day in their own ways.Some hold ceremonies,in grand fashion at the site of the crash,while others wept over old photgraphs of loved ones,while hand in hand with the ones that survived,the ones who got left behind.Still,the images of the buildings crumbling,the planes crashing into the buildings,the way people fainted on the videos,when the flag of the United States of America was raised in the middle of the site,it still sends shock and chills down my spine.I still wonder in disbelief,why would human do such an unspeakable thing to others,why love is such a difficult thing to behold in this world,why misunderstandings can transform into the very making of blood,so much innocent blood.

I think at the very end of it all,for the ones outside the circle of hate and politics;there is no love,there is no hate,this no anger,but so many questions before those emotions actually activate.

After the cloud settles,after the screams have subsided,the site cleared and the heros buried,we witness not the bombs dropped over orphanages in Afghanistan,not the security checks being conducted in Great Britain,not the Lipton Brothers held captive in Guantanamo,not the hate - so much of it - in this world.We dont see that,but the true spirit of mankind that stood above all emotions on that day,the way the climbed over the towering clouds,towards the afternoon sun that day,shining proud and tall.

I remember waking up the very next morning,the 13th of September.It was 6am in the morning,and i continued to watch the news coverage on the television.Over breakfast,as the images of the towers kept repeating over and over,i cried.With no shame,with no horror,and not even with fear.But really,because there is still good in this world,and it is worth fighting for.It is worth fighting for.

In the end only kindness matters
In the end only kindness matters
I will get down on my knees, and I will pray
I will get down on my knees, and I will pray
I will get down on my knees, and I will pray

My hands are small I know
But they're not yours, they are my own
But they're not yours, they are my own
And I am never broken

We are never broken...

We are God's eyes
God's hands...
God's mind...