I was there and I watched it.
The first time, it was my parents: I’ll never forget that night, the worst night of my life. My entire life was destroyed in two seconds. I relive it every night.
The night the Flying Graysons died comes a very close second.
An eight year old boy fails to save his parents, objectively no one can blame him but himself. But I was there. Batman was there and if he can’t save a boy’s parents, what is the point of Batman?
I failed the mission that night. I failed to fulfill the promise I made my parents the night they were murdered. I failed myself. But more importantly, I failed Dick.
In the time it takes five people to fall fifty feet I watched him become an orphan. I watched his life fall away the way mine had. That’s why I had to take him in.
He represents my biggest failure.
Now I look at him, and I know that everything since that night has been worth it. He’s the only thing I’ve done that I can really be proud of.