Here Is New York...

I had gone for a long walk earlier this evening after my class finished up. Even though I was still a little sick, I strolled the city streets with the cold stinging my face and the air whipping about my head.

When I returned home, I looked through a pile of papers. I found a few quotes scrawled on a piece of paper with the date 9/11/06 written on the top.

The paper included quotes from an E.B. White book, Here Is New York. It was written in 1947 and published in 1949.

"The city, for the first time in its long history, is destructible. A single flight of planes no bigger than a wedge of geese can quickly end this island fantasy, burn the towers, crumble the bridges, turn the underground passages into lethal chambers, cremate the millions. The intimation of mortality is part of New York now; in the sounds of jets overhead, in the black headlines of the latest editions."

"All dwellers in cities must live with the stubborn fact of annihilation, in New York the fact is somewhat more concentrated because of the concentration of the city itself, and because, of all targets, New York has a certain clear priority. In the mind of whatever perverted dreamer might loose the lightning, New York must hold a steady, irresistible charm."

It's funny how these words, written over fifty years prior still ring true. Maybe it is the chill in the air that makes me think of such things. Or the way the wind howls and stings, marking this time of year.