âWhat hits really hard in moments like this is that really⌠nothing is forever. The loss of history, of art, of creation, is real and deeply tragic. But whatâs really itching at the insides of my chest is watching something I thought was forever suddenly not exist.
âWe know this, of course. We know in our brains that nothing lasts. But that doesnât stop us from just going about our lives forgetting about that reality. And then we get hit in the face by it⌠sometimes individually, sometimes collectively.
"A lot of us are feeling this now together⌠though at the same time, many other people donât have such a visceral tie to Notre Dame. Which is why Iâm doing my best to not be very angry at the "itâs just a buildingâ comments. (Though, honestly, if thatâs how you feel, be quiet.)
âBut Katherine also reminded me that Notre Dame is not one thing⌠and while nothing lasts, the story of human culture isnât of building things that last forever, itâs changing, growing, progressing, remembering, and /rebuilding./
"She reminded me that Notre Dame is history, but so is today. We donât get to be separate from history. And we are not the first people to see beautiful things destroyed. Indeed, weâre not the first to see much of Notre Dame Cathedral destroyed.
"Much of Notre Dame is nearly 1000 years old. Some of it is 50 years old. The spire was built 150 years ago. The Rose Window is (was) from the 1200s. Itâs heartbreaking.
"But in a moment when Iâm reminded of how fragile things are, I also want to be reminded of how much we have created and preserved⌠and how much we have rebuilt. So that feeling is in there with the bad ones. Itâs not bigger than the bad ones, but itâs in there too.â
- Hank Green after talking with his wife Katherine about the tragic fire consuming Notre Dame
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