The lesson of 9/11

Here is something of a confession: What I found most troubling (by far) about the events of 9/11 was not the loss of life but the collapse of the Twin Trade Towers. That those pillars of steel and concrete could simply disappear within seconds unsettled me terribly. Karl Marx said of society under capitalism that "all things solid melt into thin air." But long before Marx, the book of Ecclesiastes tells us that all things that come from our hands are but "labored for the winds" and that there will be no "remembrance of things that are to come by those who will come after." Some day in the distance, even the stars and sun will shine no more. To think that the magnificent stone buildings in this photo will suffer the same fate as the diaphanous mushrooms in the foreground is indeed a reminder that if we do seek immortality, we best not seek it through our own labours.