Episode 88: September 11, then and now

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Welcome to Wisdom from the Aerial View,

the podcast for [music] those who seek

comfort, joy, peace, tranquility,

and find meaning and purpose in their

lives. I know I always add something new

every week, but that's who I am.

>> How are you? How are you, Doc?

>> I'm great. I'm feeling excellent.

Feeling very good.

>> I'm always excellent when I'm with you.

>> And And you do look And you look

excellent. And you sound excellent.

Excellent. And and I know I'm a great

face for radio and um [laughter]

>> you know you and I let's tell our

listeners that we did discuss before we

u sign on here what we should talk about

today. And I said you know um we have

nothing planned. We have nothing really

in mind but but tomorrow just so our

listeners know we're taping on u

September 10th and tomorrow is September

11th.

And I think we would be remiss if we

didn't talk a little bit about September

11th and what it meant to all of us and

particularly for you and me because we

were born and raised in New York and

then ended up not ended up right now

we're in right in the shadow of our

nation's capital. Those were two of the

three places that that were heavily

impacted on 9/11. And maybe we are then

more aware of it than others. But an

interesting thing happened to me the

other day. As you know, I'm doing a

little bit of teaching now on college

and I was talking to one of the students

and I know you're teaching too. And the

student we were talking about and she's

21 and I said, "Oh, 911 you 25th

anniversary." She said, "Yeah, I wonder

what that was like." And all of a sudden

it occurred to me we have a whole

generation of kids who to them it's

ancient history. And it's as though you

and I will never forget. It's like we

won't forget where we were when Kennedy

was shot and killed. How history goes

on. It's your philosophy that nothing

ever changes. That it's always it's just

everything happens and happens and

happens. May we never have another 911,

but what are your thought? Where were

you on 911, Mark? And and where are we

today?

>> Well, I'll answer that question in a

second. You when uh I I had some ideas

of things I wanted to talk about on

today's podcast.

>> Yeah.

>> And Enid said, "No,

>> no, not that. No, no, no. We're going to

talk about 911. It's not." I said,

"Okay." So, which is, you know, and it's

an easy thing for us to talk about. I'll

tell you. So, I was in my office. I was

seeing patients and one of my

technologists came into the room and

said to me, um, a plane just hit the

World Trade Center. And I went and of

course the first thing that came to my

mind, which is something that I didn't

remember as a, you know, I don't

remember what year it was, but a plane,

a small plane once hit the Empire State

Building.

>> Yes.

>> Many, many, many years ago. It was a

small plane. I think it got lost. Who

knows what happened? It was a long,

long, long, way before you and me. I

said, "How could a little plane hit the

World Trade Center?" I'm thinking little

plane. I'm thinking like a little Piper

Cub ran into the world's and bounced off

it. Right.

>> Sure.

>> And then of course we uh a little while

later it became clear that there was

something more than a little piper cub

hitting the World Trade Center. And we

all ran up to the um the lunchroom which

we had for our staff and there was a TV

in there. And as we're watching this, of

course, we saw the second plane fly into

the I think it was the North Tower was

second, I think. I don't remember. And

at that point, you knew, oh my god. Oh

my god. Oh my god. This So I was so many

things entered my mind. One is and I

still think about this. It's never I've

never stopped thinking about it. What

it' be like to be on one of those

planes. Yeah,

>> imagine you're on a plane and you're

flying at speed into the into the World

Trade Center and that the fireball and

it's just it's and I thought about it

again this morning is it's just these

things are incomprehensible.

>> Yes.

>> On the other side of this is that you

mentioned that the 21-y old girls who

for whom this is just history.

>> It's like us. I mean, you know, I went

I'm sure you've gone to some Civil War

battlefields.

>> I do not like going to battlefields.

Uh

>> I don't like the whole idea that all

these people were slaughtered. I just

don't like it. And

>> but I go, my wife likes to go see is

very interested in history. So we go.

But for me, it's not just history. I I I

get this very visceral pain when I when

I stand on these sacred grounds and

reenact in my mind what what went on.

But for us, the Civil War is history.

It's just a history lesson. World War I

history lesson. World War II history

lesson, right? So, we didn't live

through those things. So, it's very easy

for me to appreciate how this

21-year-old said, "Oh, I wonder what it

was like." Well, what was it like to be

in London when the bombing was going on?

What was it like to be in Antidum, you

know, flying, you know, charging across

an opal field? You know, what was it

like to be in a trench of World War I?

Um, you know, we don't we luckily we

didn't have these experiences, but

obviously a lot of people did. So, it's

it shouldn't be hard for us to be at

least be able to empathize with these

things and it shouldn't be hard for

young people now to empathize with what

happened on 9/11, the World Trade

Center. But for some reason, it is. And

that's because

you all had a uniform message about

World War II. We had a uniform message

about the Civil War. I mean, I shouldn't

say that. If you lived in the South, you

had a different message growing up about

the Civil War than if you lived in New

York City like we did. Um, but World War

II pretty much everybody in this country

shared the same sense of what it meant.

There was clearly good guys and the bad

guys and and there are clearly good guys

and bad guys under 9/11 also. But

somehow someway the message has been

slowly eroded and distorted almost like

the Holocaust almost like the denial of

the Holocaust that we hear and you think

how could people deny 9/11? How could

people think that the US government

there was this conspiracy by the

government to take down the towers? Who

who could ever imagine that? How could

anybody imagine, you know, these that

that the Holocaust was a was uh was

fiction? I mean, we have millions of

survivors of of the Holocaust,

concentration camp survivors, people who

lived in adjacent areas. We have tons

and tons of recorded interviews. We have

tons and tons of documents. We have we

have all kinds of uh factual material,

thousands of kilograms of this stuff of

if you put one on top of the other and

yet people are denying it. And so I

think about 911 now that you hear people

saying well you know heard Hassan

say well you know the US had it coming

or you hear other people make comments

like that and it's very disturbing and I

don't want to I'll tell you why it's

obvious why it's disturbing to me but it

it goes a little deeper. I think it says

a lot about uh human beings how we think

how we react our culture values. Anyway,

I'll let you talk for a while. No, no. I

I think you're right. And the reason

that I really thought was incumbent upon

us to talk about this was because uh you

know [clears throat]

where do we go? There was an article in

the New York Times by by Brett Stevens

who I think is is a great writer and the

title of it was 25 years after 9/11.

Life has proved stronger than death.

>> I saw the article.

>> Yeah. And it's a good piece because it's

true. we go on. We we we it happens. Uh

it's a horrible thing and we'll never

forget and but life does go on and and

life is stronger than death. And this is

a topic that you and I have talked about

adnauseium,

but but the other thing that that I

really wanted to get into was that you

were always talking about that nothing's

new, that we've been through this

before, we're going to go through it

again. So, I guess the question I have

for you is, are we going to go through

this again?

>> We're going to go through something like

it again. Uh, I don't know what it will

be.

>> Yeah,

>> it could be worse. I don't know what you

need. It's very sad.

>> But if I'm if I'm I like to I like to

imagine God sitting up in in uh above

us.

>> Uhhuh.

>> And I don't care if God's male, female,

unisex, I don't think, you know, all

that stuff. I I don't care about that.

But but but our creator or the higher

power whatever you want to consider

right just imagine even if you don't

believe in God just imagine this

scenario somebody watching from afar and

saying and and sitting with his or her

friend saying after uh let's take any

war that occurred in history right I

don't know if you saw the movie the

Odyssey that just came out based on

>> okay so you can imagine I did not like

it why because it's super violent and

you know I don't like that stuff but my

wife loved and it was very cinematic and

so on. But but anyway, so let's go back

to Adysius and the uh and Homer's poem

and talk about, you know, the the uh

sacking of Troy and so on. You go any So

you can imagine our creator looking um

well, his friend sitting next to him and

saying, "Oh, well, humanity will learn

from this. They're never going to make

this mistake again." And God looking

over and going, "Oh, really? Let's fast

forward a little bit." And you go from

war to war to war to war to war to war

of all cultures everywhere in the world.

No, no society has been spared. No

society society has been guiltless. And

then of course you get to think things

we can let's start let's go back to the

civil war and you go, "Oh my god, these

people slaughtered each other." Well,

they certainly going to learn this time.

Certainly going to learn from this. And

then there's World War I. They go,

"They're certainly going to learn from

this. This was millions of people died.

It was brutal. It was this. It was

barbaric. People being blown up and shot

left and right every single day. Surely

they will learn from this. And then less

than 25 years later, it's World War II.

>> Yeah.

>> And you go, Surely they will learn from

this. But of course not. Why? Why don't

we learn? It's not that we don't learn.

People are not that well some people are

are not the sharpest tax in the box, but

most people are clever enough to see

that what's happened. But the next

generation comes along and says, "I want

power. I want control. I want riches."

Whatever it may be. I want fame. I want

glory. And so, a few people can just

wreck the entire planet. It doesn't take

a lot. It does take a bunch of other

people going along with him or her to do

that. Usually, it's a him obviously. I

can't think of any,

you know, um, women who were who were

dictators. Maybe I'm forgetting, but

anyway. Um,

>> we don't do that. We don't do that.

can't. But anyway, but so that's what

happens. It's not that people don't

learn. And it's the same story again.

Why? Because each human being, each

generation must go through the same

evolution in their lives. They must

experience things personally. They must

uh act out individually. You can't just

read the manual of life. The generation

that follows cannot just pick up a book

at the age of five and say, "Oh, I get

it. Here's what we're going to do.

Here's what we're not going to do. We're

going to live happily ever after. This

is what works. This is what doesn't

work." You know, for instance, we're

seeing the rise of socialism. To me,

that is I won't say it's unbelievable

because because as you said, I I I know

everything happens again and again. So,

I'm not like super stunned, but I am a

bit surprised cuz hello, this cannot

work. Not only hasn't it worked ever, it

cannot work. Why? Because it flies in

the face of human nature. If you give if

you take away the the ability for people

to achieve, to create, to grow, then you

are then you will crush them and nobody

will do anything and everybody will

suffer. It's so simple that when I

listen to these socialists, I want to

shake them and go, could you really

possibly be any more stupid? Can't can't

you read any book? Don't you know

anything about either human nature or

history? Come on. You know, yes, we need

to take care of each other. That's the

message. The message is we need to care

about each other, look after each other,

help each other, share when we as much

as we can. That's the that's what all

these stories tell us again and again.

So, what's 911 about? a bunch of, you

know, a bunch of dis, you know, people

who have been totally brainwashed,

brainwashed by a cult of a religion. I

don't want to throw everybody, every

Muslim under the bus. I know a lot of

Muslim people who are super, right? And

they think this is just as horrible as

we are. I know a lot of Muslim people

who think the anti-semitism is

outrageous, right? So, you know, it's

not a whole culture. It's not everybody,

but it's a subset for sure. So, that

subset of that culture is is a curse on

the earth. and and it hasn't gone away.

It's still here. So, you ask me, "Will

it happen again?" Something will happen

again. The ideology hasn't died. Even

though these people have been

brainwashed about stupidity, right? No.

Don't blow people up. Don't fly planes

into buildings. Build yourself up. Build

up your communities. Educate your

children. Invest in your communities.

Work hard. Grow a grow an grow industry.

Grow an economy. You know, spend your

efforts on that, right? If you do that,

you will succeed. your children and

grandchildren will succeed. If you're

just disgruntled and angry and think the

world has to believe what you believe

and if they don't you need to kill them.

Well, that's that's the that's the end

of society eventually.

>> But, you know, there's another side of

the 9/11 that we need to talk about and

that is the positive side. What do I

mean by that?

>> Some good came out of it. We found the

stories were remarkable of some of the

heroes, true heroes of what they did.

the man with the red bandana, the the

firefighters who rushed into the

building and not from the building and

they lost their lives. We found true

heroism. We found people who mustered

the courage to do the right thing. And

that to me is also a lesson that we

learn from from this tragic event that

there were in fact heroes and that that

many people that day I would submit to

you found meaning and purpose in their

lives. They went through a tragedy, a

the one of the most horrific events

certainly in the in the east United

States in forever and and they were the

ones who went to ground zero and worked

on the pit and they were moving art I

mean trying to find survivors and they

day after day after day. I have a very

good friend who spent days and days

working on the pit because he wanted to

find survivors. He he didn't know

anybody, but that's what he did. He was

a hero. We've now come to find out that

unfortunately we were not told the

truth. That in fact that the toxins in

the air were much uh were toxic and that

people are now uh suffering those

consequences as well. So, but beyond

that, let's talk about the heroism.

Let's talk about the people Matt Mark

who literally found meaning and purpose

in their lives on 911 912 and 913 and

914. So out of the out of the rubble

came ironically

some some good thoughts.

>> Yeah. Uh there is 0% chance zero that

any event is going to be totally bad

with nothing good in it. Zero. it

doesn't exist. It might be 99 to one. It

might be 99.999 to 0.00001. But there is

always some element of good that arises

in every bad situation. And you've

you've you've put you've pinpointed

that. So in this case, people a couple

things happen. One, Americans came

together. We were so united. We haven't

been united like that in 25 years. Flags

flying, people hugging each other. You

notice people didn't cut each other off

on the on the road. People weren't

honking their horns. People weren't

cutting each other off. If if somebody

was online in front of you in the

supermarket and and you accidentally,

you know, hit their basket, you

apologize and you let them get in front

of you, right? Everybody was on their

best behavior. Why why was everybody on

their best behavior? Because they

recognized something. They recognized a

few that we're all in this together. We

are indeed a family. We do have to take

care of each other. So that so that's

the I think the good you're talking

about and this is a universal truth. So,

I look at this world. You've heard, you

know, I say this ad nauseium. People

hear me drown on about this all the

time, but this is the story of life.

This is what you're here for, right? Uh

I heard a story the other day of

somebody who was extremely had had been

very successful in business, got

extremely wealthy, and then developed

pancreatic cancer and died two months

later. Okay. So, I'm not surprised by

that. I've seen, you know, way too much

pancreatic cancer. But the story isn't

about the pancreatic cancer, right? The

story is about what did you do with your

life, right? It doesn't matter how

successful, how rich, how famous, it

doesn't matter, right? That all these

things are telling us the same thing.

Who who you going to be? How kind are

you going to be to others? How generous

you going to be? How much you going to

help other people? When are you going to

learn to stop focusing on yourself and

focus on others? So, when I tell people

who I meet that I'm more concerned about

them than I'm about me, they all start

laughing like, you know, they don't take

me seriously. They don't think I mean

it. But, of course, I mean it. Now, I

have the luxury to say that because I'm

not 25 years old. I've already had a

great life. If my life ended tomorrow,

me personally, I you know, I check, you

know, I'm uh couldn't have I couldn't

have been more fortunate, right? I could

not have had a Now, have I had trials

and tribulations in my life? Of course,

I have. Everybody has. But overall, man,

fantastic. A+ and I'm still trying to do

as much as I can to, you know, to give

back in that sense. But that's the

message, right? That's what that's what

these things are telling you about. when

do you feel the best? You know, those

people that ran into the buildings, the

people that dug in the pit, all those

things, they were doing this for a

reason. They knew something in them was

saying, "I have to help. I'm here for a

reason. I've got to care." And they just

become they became consumed by this. And

we saw it even in the in the everyday

life of how we treated each other on the

road in the supermarket. Everybody was

hugging, everybody was waving, right?

You know, so some good absolutely came

out of it. Now, it shouldn't take that.

Of course, right? It shouldn't take

that. So, who's our econom enemy going

to be now? You know, it could be AI,

right? It could be AI. We could come

together over AI. I don't know what it's

going to be, but I can tell you for sure

we will come together again.

>> Do you think this? Okay, I'm going to

stop you right there. Do you think that

we will ever come together? We are

living in a polarized society. There's

no question about it. And we know that

we have the capacity to come together

because we saw as you're you're saying

we saw it on 9/11. Can we get back to

the good that came out of it rather than

what what's going on now? Can we come

together again?

>> That's not even a question. 100% no

doubt. Slam dunk. Yes.

>> This is the way the world works. I don't

know.

>> I don't know how and I don't know where

and when, but I know why. I know it will

happen 100%. Everything happens again

and again. This is why it's so funny

when you look at the story of like I

said, if you're sitting up in heaven

with God and you, you know, and you say,

"Oh, that'll never happen again." Or,

"This is going to happen." And God will

just turn and look at you and go, "Oh,

really? Just watch this." And he fast

forwards, he fast forwards the movie a

little bit just to give you a little

like a a uh a teaser, like a trailer.

Here's the trailer for the future. And

the trailer of the future is either

really good things happening again or

really bad things happening again. It's

always going to happen again and again

and again. Will we come together?

There's zero chance that we won't. Zero.

Now, I don't know when. It could be. I

will tell you it will be sooner than

later. How do I know this? Because we're

the world is on an accelerant.

Everything's faster. Everything's

happening more quickly. A lot of that's

because of technology. Probably all of

it's because of technology. We we we

interact quicker. We learn quicker. We

get news quicker. We can communicate

quicker. Everything's quicker quicker

quicker. Like the way I talk, right? Um

so yes, 100%. It'll probably be sooner

than later. what will bring us together

when I said AI maybe it could be

something like that I don't know but it

will absolutely happen you know that I

mean people who don't appreciate that I

don't mean to be overly harsh or

critical because I I never want to be

that way I'm interested in everybody's

opinion and hearing everybody but I will

tell people stop ftting about the fact

that that we're in this polarized

environment or that we're at each

other's throats politically or whatever

it's going to change it now we can it's

up to us to determine how It happens,

right? Uh and this little podcast we

have, hopefully it helps a few people,

but it will absolutely it will

absolutely happen. We will come

together. We will be more united. And

then of course, at some point, we'll be

further apart. It's like ice ages,

right? You know, I crack up about

climate change because is the climate

changing? Yes. So, I was just in I think

I told you about this. I might have

talked about this on one of our previous

episodes. We were in North Dakota, South

Dakota. You know, there was there was an

ocean there like 75 65 million years

ago. There was an ocean there. There was

an ocean, right?

>> And now it's like, you know, very dry

and there's mountains and so on.

>> Mhm.

>> Right. You know,

>> you know, the there is it 11,000 15,000

years ago, we're in the middle of an ice

age. 300 foot thick glaciers covered a

third of the United States, right? Down

to like through Ohio. I can't remember

where they stopped, but you know, you

know, like I said, people were cheering

at that point 10,000 years ago. Glacial

uh global warming, yay, right? cuz they

all these glaciers were covering the,

you know, the top third of the United

States and much of the world. So the the

climate's been warming. Guess what? It's

going to get really cold again. Really,

really, really, really cold again.

Probably in 10, 15, 20,000 years. I

don't know when. Here's what else is

going to happen. The carbon dioxide

levels that is that are too high now,

they're going to drop to such low levels

that life won't be able that certain

like plants won't exist. Now, we're

talking a millions, maybe a billion

years, but this is how it happens. It

all evolves. Everything changes. Nothing

is permanent. our our polarization now.

It's not 1850. It's not nearly what it

was in 1850 or 1860. It's bad enough. I

don't like it. You don't like it. But

that will change, too. We will come

together. Something will happen. We will

come together. I just don't know what it

is, and I don't know when, but I 100%

sure it will happen.

>> Yeah. It's interesting. I think of Mr.

Rogers who said, "Always look to the

helpers." Look for the helpers. And

that's basically your philosophy, too. I

mean, we the helpers can be all of us.

We I guess your point has been for the

proud this these many months that we've

been doing this podcast that we are the

helper that you whoever you are the

general you have to be the helper to

make us to make us better to make the

world a little a better place and to to

to put back a little and the other thing

that I I said to you that we have we're

living in a in a a world now that that

has we've lost some people recently that

have changed the world that have, I

think, changed it for the better. And

one of them was Gloria Steinum. And what

does that have to do with 9/11?

Absolutely nothing except that she lived

in New York. Um, [laughter]

and and I wanted to talk about her

because she she meant a lot in my life.

I actually had the good opportunity to

meet her and have some good conversation

with her and and enjoyed her company.

She was a a very very good woman and I

think she was one of the people who

decided early in her life that she was

here for a purpose and that she was

going to fulfill that purpose and her

purpose was frankly to to show that men

and equal men and women were equal even

though women are probably better but to

show that we were in fact equal. Are we

equal today? No. You you still make more

money. You men still make more money

than women. But she had an influence and

an impact on our society. And I just

think uh maybe I'm just thinking about

all these things that in in light of

that the tragedy we're going to look to

tomorrow on the uh September 11th, but I

found it um sad that she died as well.

She died at a ripe old age of 92. God

bless her. But it was still a loss for

this country

whether you thought about her

politically or not. Forget the politics

if you will for a minute. It's the

person what she meant to a generation of

us of women from Miz magazine on. I and

I still have several issues of my Miz

magazine. I was a subscriber.

>> Yeah. Look, I uh I did not have the

opportunity to meet her. Obviously, I

knew who she was. I read a lot about her

cuz I grew up in the same era that you

know she's obviously older than us

significantly but

>> uh I was old enough to to know what I

remember Miz magazine and I remember

reading about you know her and look if

if her mission was to say women deserve

to be treated

>> no differently than men in terms of

ability to pursue careers and get paid

the same and you know she wasn't

fighting against suffrage anymore that

had already happened but still uh same

idea well you know it's hard to argue

with that. I mean, it's like anytime you

you uh you try to have a group of people

uh be treated better than they are, then

that's a good thing, right? So, you

know, it's funny, but I don't you know,

you said something we've lost her, and

of course, that's not true.

>> Right. Right. Right. Yes. Because this

is it's a very important way to look at

this, right? So, you know, we haven't

talked about the jukebox of time for a

while. Um, but she is still alive on

every record from the moment she was

born to the last day, last breath here

on earth. That those those records in

the jukebox of time, each moment, each

record represents a moment of the of her

life. And she's still playing on all

those. They're still there, right?

[snorts] So, but what do we have now?

Now, we have her memories. So, she's not

playing on the current records, but she

still exists. This is why I always talk

about everybody in the present tense

because in a very real sense, we do not

lose anybody. And I will fight that

fight for as long as I can. I'm living

and even after because it's just the way

it is. And so that's a very why do I

bring this up? Who cares? Why does it

matter? It matters because it changes

our perspective of the world. It allows

us to appreciate that what we do on this

earth lasts forever. Not only in terms

of memories or in a textbook or online

and a Wikipedia page is because it is

continually happening forever. We write

we write our story and our story never

disappears. the pages in our book, the

print, you get to the last page, the

print doesn't disappear on the all the

original all the earlier pages. The

print is still there. That's how our

lives are. It's very important to keep

that in mind because that should that

helps focus us on how we should live our

lives. It's a in a sense we are

immortal. What you do doesn't go away.

It matters. Everything you do matters.

Nobody expect you to get it all right.

Nobody does. Life is evolution, right?

To evolve from selfless to selfless,

from inward focus to outward focus.

That's the process. Everybody's going to

get it wrong. Everybody's got to make

mistakes. But if you if you behave in a

way that you're always trying to improve

the world, if you're always trying to

help somebody else and so in that sense,

I give Gloria Steinum a lot of credit,

you know, she that's what she tried to

do and she did. She made a difference.

She did. Now I would say that we must

you know that that sometimes we um how

can I sometimes we take we take what

people do and we sometimes

distort it in the sense that that

creates the polarization you were

talking about earlier. But if you

dedicate your life or a part of your

life to doing good things for people

either individually one-on-one, which is

pretty much what I've done, or

collectively like somebody like a Gloria

Steinum or even a Dolly Parton who we

talked about last week, these these are

these are great things. You you get you

you that's your mission. Way to go.

Congratulations. So even if people don't

agree with it, you know there look there

might be people some think no you know

women and men aren't equal. I mean there

are still people who think that way,

right? Okay, I'm not going to

>> I'm not going to try and dissuade him,

right? But from Gloria Son's point of

view, you know what she what she did was

overall to try and improve the lives of

women. Well, that gets an A+, right?

Whether you whether you agree with her

politics or not is irrelevant. She spent

her time trying to do what she believed

would help women. And she did. So, I

don't know how you uh how you see that

any other way. That that's that was her

mission. and she and she uh she lived

out that part, you know, it wasn't just

words. Most of us were just like me. We

just talk a lot, but you know, these are

people that really, you know, make a

huge difference.

>> Yeah. And the and so I guess the the the

a fitting ending for this podcast today

is the memory of the 3,000 who died and

the and the Dolly Partans and the Gloria

Steinums. The memory there, they keep on

they keep going. And I guess the the

thing that I want to do, I'll end it

with um something and then you can have

a final say. It comes from that article

from Brett Stevens about life has proved

stronger than death. He ends it this

way. He says, "On September 11th, 2001,

the forces of death paid a visit to

lower Manhattan and extracted their

awful rep irreparable price." 25 years

on. What's clear most of all to those of

us who saw both sides of that date is

that the forces of life proved much

stronger. I'll let you have the final

say.

>> The forces of life will always prove to

be stronger until such time as there is

no life. And I don't know when that's

going to be either. But I can tell you

this. You know, here's another thing

about history. I hate to tell you, but

99% of all species that ever inhabit

this planet are extinct, right? A little

bit more than that. Humans are not

exempt. So hopefully we'll be around for

another couple hundred thousand years.

Who knows? I have no idea. But you're

not just that's that's okay to

understand that we're not permanent.

Permanence is not the point. It's what

you do while you're here that's the

point. And so you know the you know the

the good guys eventually win it.

Sometimes it takes an awful lot of loss,

an awful lot of sacrifice, an awful lot

of trauma and and and pain and suffering

for it to happen. In fact, most science

it probably does. But in the end,

humanity is here for a reason and most

people get it and most people know it.

So though a few people can take us down

an awfully dark tunnel, which is what

happens a lot of times in history, in

the end the the goodness and kindness

rises to the surface. It's like a forest

fire. the far you see these raging

forest fires and then you know a short

time later there's a flower little piece

of grass seedlings it always comes back

always and that's what humanity does so

I tend to be very optimistic I I hope

nobody has to go through sorrow sadness

tragedy pain loss of course you know I I

feel these things very personally and I

feel them I feel them collectively I

feel which is why I can't watch violent

movies and violent TV I feel it

viscerally I feel it for all humanity I

do I take it I take the world's pain and

I and I feel it. And I'm not trying to

be a hero. I'm just saying I can't help

it. Which is why I as much as high as I

try to watch a violent movie or TV show,

it's it's very difficult for me because

I feel the pain of the world. And I

think in some sense we all do that and

and something like 9/11 brings that

home, right? We all realize, oh my god,

a by the grace of God, it wasn't me. And

B, I feel the pain of all my fellow

human beings who lost lives, who lost

family members. We all feel it. And

that's what brought us together. That's

why we hugged. That's why we didn't cut

each other off in traffic. That's why we

waved. That's why we smiled. You know,

we didn't hunk our horns. We all get it.

And so, in the end of the day, we deep

down, we know this, right? Yes, there

are going to be some people who are, you

know, who who try and who try and ruin

it for the rest of us, but in the end,

the good guys will will always win.

>> Well, two things. A, you're a good guy.

And B, on 911, I was at Dallasos

airport. I was two planes behind the one

plane that took off and ended in the

Pentagon.

>> Oh my god.

>> Yeah. [music] So 911. Um I don't know.

It's just I

>> you know I did not know that Enid.

That's the first time you've told me

that. [music]

>> Yeah. So but anyway, you're a good guy.

I want to thank everybody for listening

and and uh [music] as always, may we all

find peace

>> and you're a good woman [music] and

thank you all for listening and we'll

see you next time.