humansofnewyork:“It was the day I was supposed to die. I was fourteen years old. I remember my
humansofnewyork:“It was the day I was supposed to die. I was fourteen years old. I remember my father was correcting exam papers on the couch. My brother was sitting on the bed. And I was lying on the floor, pretending to study Algebra. But secretly, out of the corner of my eye, I was watching television. Because the news bulletin was about to finish, and afterwards came ‘Mork and Mindy.’ It was my favorite program because I loved Robin Williams. So when the bomb went off, I was thinking of Robin Williams. We saw the explosion before we heard it. Because light travels faster than sound. My brother looked up toward the window, and the shrapnel hit him in the face. He ended up losing an eye. And on that day darkness fell over our house. My father grew inward, and silent. The only game he allowed in our house was chess. Not cards. Not backgammon. Only chess, because it was a game of reason. And my father had no use for luck. We had a neighbor who didn’t fear the snipers. After dark he would walk to our house, feeling his way along the walls, clutching his chess set. And all night long he’d play with my father. Our whole family would gather around to watch. And I grew to love the game. When I came to America as a young man, my first job was in a chess shop. And eventually I would come to own my own store. Many years ago my father came to visit me in New York. We played a lot of chess together. And one afternoon we decided to take a walk through The Village. We were walking down Houston Street when I saw Robin Williams coming toward us. He was escorting his young daughter. I was escorting my old father. And we shared a ‘parently’ moment. We smiled at each other. But I didn’t speak to him, because I was too shy. But I wanted to tell him. I wanted to tell him about a young Palestinian boy who was supposed to die one night. But in that darkest of moments, on the other side of the world, he was thinking of you. He was waiting for you. Because he wanted to forget about his problems, and smile. I wish I had told him that. Maybe he’d have realized the impact he’d had on the world. Maybe he wouldn’t have killed himself. But if he had, at least he would have died with that memory.” #comebacknyc -- source link