Exploration 4: "Rebirth"

Out of the five stories in the film, it was Nick's that affected me the most. I don't think that the magnitude and impact of the event can or should be measured by how much you lost in 9/11, but I feel as though Nick did lose the most, with his mother perishing in the attack and his ties to his family being severed afterwards. His story spoke volumes about the nature of grief, when you have that realization that the people you lost aren't coming back and that there's nothing you or anyone else can do to change that. Not only that, but his story seemed to be the one with the happiest conclusion, for lack of a better word. Throughout the film (thanks to the time-lapse used), you see him go from being an angry and bitter young man to someone who has come to terms with the reality of what happened and how that changed their life. It was that quote "it's absurd [for me] to hate Bin Laden", that really serves to highlight how far he'd come. It was evident at that point that he'd finally began to move through the grieving process, out from the denial stage and into understanding. He no longer took what happened as some personal affront, but rather he saw his own story as part of the larger tale of what occurred that day. He was, in short, healing. That's what struck me the most out of his story. He proved that what happened on that day is just one part of life, and that burying yourself in it isn't conducive to convalescence.