Falling Man by Don DeLillo

I started the book, Falling Man by Don DeLillo, and after 6 pages I was almost crying. I was riding the metro, and the sun was sharp through the windows so the air conditioning wasn't that effective. That probably added to the turn in attitude. The first six pages were about a man who was walking in NY city as the Twin Towers are destroyed.

I think sometimes we are able to remove emotion from memories. I lived in Seattle for 10 years, and even though I can remember the feeling of lonliness, and maybe I feel a twinge when I think of it, at this time it is mostly a cerebral experience to think of Seattle and the lonliness involved. On the flip side, though, the sadness I felt this morning reading fiction that started 6 pages with a recount of September 11, 2001 was not cerebral. It wasn't devasting, as I could control it. I closed the book. However, I was surprised at the depth.

What I decided to do after I closed my book was try to be as Jane Austen, and just notice people. Notice the look, what they are reading, the angles of how they hold the newspaper. I started to do this more recently as I realized that I cocoon myself within a book or my imagination when I'm riding the metro. Anyway, as I'm looking at people as inconspicuous as possible, I realized, yet again, that people are interesting. It was like a wildflower garden on the metro with all the colors, and some people folded in like petals, and some people talking loud ready to reach for the sun.