Think of this for a second, if you were in the towers when it collapsed, do you think anyone, except your family and friend will do anything about it? The COLD HARD TRUTH is, ultimately, your family will have to absorb the damage, both emotionally and financially, by themselve. Your death is just one of the many, and you will not get a "memory of celebrity_name_xxx", you are gone, bye . . .
Yeah, my sister cried many times at the sight of the tragedy, even if she doesn't know anyone there, and I always consider her tears to be more precious than a mllion pearls. Yet her life will go on, and time will wash away everything. In the end, it is still you, only you, who can help yourself.
Nothing on this planet is black and white, major events like this is how careers are defined, fates altered. The SOONER you realize this, the better. If the U.S. Government had the conscience to drop a pair of atomic bombs that destroyed the life of many many innocent civilians who happened to be at the wrong place and wrong time, then the WTC tragedy too should be considered as the price of the war. I repeat, nothing, and absolutely nothing is 100% right, and nothing is 100% wrong. If you want to be neutral in your biase, you must open your eyes and not believe everything the media tells you.
I mourn for the victims, but I can not be fragile, as long as I am breathing I still have a career as a professional trader and I must act professionally, I still have a dream to pursue, a sister to love. I can not predict when will I see an plane crashing into my window, but I can predict with 100% accuracy that until it happens I am going to be doing what is best for my goals.
Therefore, I am going to do what makes most sense for my interest, which is the only way to play the game, which is the only way to be professional. Every tragedy, like it or not, is an potential opportunity of profit. The June 4th TianAnMen Square incident gave me the long coveted green card, which completely changed my fate in this country. I have spend enough time watching CNN this week, it is over, it is history, I am looking at next week, as a potential breakout week, a week that may put me on the map for good. Ethics has NO place on a battlefield, and the financial market is a virtual battlefield that has winners and losers.
Love is the greatest strength, I do what I do for a living, to make the life of those I love better, nothing and nothing else is under my concern. All of those memorials, American flags, blood donations, financial donations won't mean a thing to me if I was in that tower. I can not show weakness, I can not show mercy, once I am on the floor, I have the cold blood of an assasin, and there is only one priority, my P&L.
Wet:
I would gladly raise the water price but I am afraid I am going to suffer a LAPD beatdown as mobs rush me down at my house, if I can do it without any consequences I would.
A lot of people screamed when gas stations increased gas prices not knowing that they were concerned they may not be able to get supply for a long long time. You have to do what is most important to you, and for me too much ethics can dull even the sharpest blade.
The Black Monday, many many people's lives were ruined, yet there were traders who made their career with a big game, save your ethic for the real world, the stock market is nothing more than a game.
Last but not least, I would like to remind each and everyone on this board that there is no telling what will happen to this market. We may sell-off then get stuck say Nasdaq 1200 for months, with little interest/volume/volatility in the market. If you thought summer was bad a month from now it may be worse. You won't be able to get a job easily either, think of everyone who didn't die within 10 square blocks of WTC, they are all out of jobs. It is going to a really bad situation, and I suggest make a killing if at all possible while you still can. Real Estate prices may decline in New York, and I may still be able to buy my own place at early 20's as I always wanted for a good price, but at this point I don't think beyond the next game, or at most next week.
Even when the tower collapsed, the above paragraph entered my mind, because I was very very logical, either I was going to die, with another airplane hitting our area, which I won't be able to do anything about anyway, or I was going to live, and I have to think about the future possibilities. My friends, if they were dead, it already happened, if they weren't, they will be ok. What was important to me was what I had to do.
That is my mentality, I don't know when I am going to die, and honestly, I don't care, you can't be afraid of something that you have no answer for, the same fear I had when the woman closest to my heart ended up as my sister. The WTC, as shocking as it was, was the second most painful day in my life.
Yet, tommorrow, unless another plane crashes into my window, I know exactly what I have to do, what I should do, and no amount of preaching on this board will make me think twice . . .
I am no hero, never pretended to be one, if I have the genie in a bottle and he can give me a choice between marrying the woman closest to my heart, having all the money in the world, immortality and keeping my youth forever, or "undo" everything that happened at the World Trade Center, I will take the first choice in a heart beat.
Give yourself the same choices, ask yourself do you really care as much as you think you do, eventually, the wound in your heart right now will end up as a scar, a hard scar, and your life will go on.
Why not tommorrow? The sooner, the better.
