This past October I was in Berlin…slowly tracing David Bowie's creative journeys. Only Bowie could believe coming to a divided city is the best place to become whole.

I was raised by Ghostbusters and Stephen King so I'm totally used to chasing ghosts.

I stood outside the Hansa Studios window where Bowie spied lovers furtively meeting underneath a guard turret…that crucial image sparked Heroes:

Standing by the wall And the guns shot above our heads And we kissed as though nothing could fall

(Bowie recorded Heroes in September 1977. The month before Iggy Pop recorded The Passenger and what he sees outside that same Hansa Studios window is

The city's ripped backsides I see the stars come out of the sky Yeah, the bright and hollow sky

There's an obvious commentary on perspective: 1 window 2 hits.)

I walked Bowie's Berlin sidewalks to his apartment…where this small memorial rests.

This photo:

I walked to Bowie's bar.

I was getting agitated as I traced Bowie's "flight path."

There was little Bowie recognition everywhere we went. There should be graffiti lyrics or murals or lit candles…public memorials…something…anything.

The evidence of grief.

The recognition of loss.

David Bowie was a Starman not a shooting star.

Understandably, Berlin is a city uncomfortable with its past; it's beyond Facebook complicated. And yet I also slowly started to understand Heroes — -finally after all these decades.

Even as a punk kid this line never made any sense to me…

"We can be heroes, just for one day"

Just for one day?! That irritating phrase is one of the song's final lines.

I was reading Spider-Man and Batman and other pulpy comics…so just for one day didn't make sense. Bruce Wayne is the mask…he is Batman.

It shifted slightly with Lloyd Dobler's looking for a dare to be great situation. Okay…just for one day, that kinda makes sense. Still not totally satisfied.

I saw Bowie live twice…and the crowd roared when the band launched into Heroes. It's one of those songs…at a concert the audience is gone. Live it was sublime and yet I struggled, like failing to slot my key into the lock on my first attempt.

Now in Berlin with my Jordans imprinting Bowie's sidewalks…I grasped that Bowie is gone.

I set off to chase ghosts but he doesn't haunt the city. (Good thing I didn't pack my Proton Pack.)

"We can be heroes, just for one day." That's what Bowie in Berlin was…well it was more than one day…but yeah.

Heroes is a heartfelt pitch that things don't hafta last to have value.

The lovers kissing near the Berlin wall were doomed. They were not fated to live happily ever after. The Wall is gone, too.

And though it's all gone…the lovers, the Wall…even Bowie it all had (and has!) meaning.

Sometimes the present is more valuable than mining the past.

Be Here Now.

You only get today to secretly meet your lover.

You only get today to look out the window and write a song.

You only get today to daydream and wonder what strange celestial sights Major Tom has floated by…

You only get today.

"We can be heroes…just for one day…"

Maybe that's obvious to everyone else…my train takes some time to reach the station. I get there. If you give me time and space…I get there like a dim-witted time traveler.

Thank you David Bowie for adding so much meaning to our lives.

You made our pop culture better.

And today…just for one day…should I run into Major Tom's wife I'll be sure to tell her that he loves her very much…though, I suspect she knows.

-28-

Sammy Younan is the affable host of My Summer Lair podcast: think NPR's Fresh Air meets Kevin Smith: interviews & impressions on Pop Culture.