All We Have Left

People do terrible things. People do beautiful things. It's against the black backdrop of evil that the shining light of good shows the brightest. We can't just focus on the darkness of the night, or we'll miss out on the stars.

[W]hen something terrible happens, all we have left is choice. You can fill that awful void inside you with anger, or you can fill it with love for the ones who remain beside you, with hope for the future.

We're not falling to the ground in an instant like the towers did, but it's like the most important parts of us are coming apart, the foundation just crumbling away beneath us.

Friends are sometimes the only thing that keep us from plunging into the abyss. But you have to reach for them, and they have to be there on the other side of the cliff reaching out to you too.

Hate is just fear. Fear that we are powerless, ugly, small, nothing, so we hate people to make us feel better about ourselves, so we don't have to be so scared all the time.

I see a sign for a bathroom and rush toward it. It feels stupid to be thinking about something as ordinary as going to the bathroom right now, but people still have to pee, still have to cry, still have to be human, no matter what else is happening.

Even in the face of incomprehensible evil, the human spirit prevailed.

bravery is trusting yourself enough to know you can hold on for that one more minute.

Which is like saying the sun can get hotter, or the ocean deeper, or reality shows more annoying.

You'd be surprised how easy it is for everything good about yourself to slip away. I know it was stupid , I always knew it really wasn't me, but I just couldn't seem to care enough to stop.

But what about those of us who could not remember that day? I've seen the footage, watched the big, clumsy planes crash into the towers like some sort of low-budget action film. Which is worse? To know that things used to be different, or to never have known a more innocent day at all?

How twisted is the world when you shoe could become part of a museum exhibit?

Just because people do bad things in the name of religion doesn’t make the religion bad. People do crappy things, people do awesome things. That’s just people.

Really?" I say. "Can you be any more conceited?" He nods. "Yes. Yes, I can.