I'm sure none of us need reminding that today is the 7th anniversary of the demise of the World Trade towers. Even from the distance of seven years later looking back makes my stomach hurt. It still makes me angry, makes me cry, sends me into a fresh wave of mourning. The horror of that day is etched so clearly on my mind, as I'm sure it is for you as well. I stood in front of the television, forgetful of my young children playing nearby, and watched, paralyzed in disbelief as that second plane really and truly flew into the towers, and the whole thing started to collapse. I cried helplessly, and impotently for the poor desperate people who jumped to their deaths, and the shattered remnants of families that were so abruptly left behind. I felt guilty relief in the knowledge that my loved ones were all safe, and abject terror at the thought of how quickly that illusion of safety can dissipate.
There is no happy ending to this tragedy, no sense or wisdom I can call upon. Only memories that have no resting place, that should never be laid to rest.
"For it is the doom of men that they forget."
-Merlin, "Excalibur"
11 comments:
I cannot turn on the television today, because I cannot rewatch what has already been burned into my mind. The horror.
There is no happy ending. But for a brief moment after, the country was united. I wish we had stayed that way.
At least temporarily, it did seem that everyone had a sense of what was really important - the unity in a spiritual sense.
~*
It is my greatest hope that if anything can be taken away from that forsaken day, is the realization that even though humanity has capicity for inflicting horrific pain,we also have the capacity for amazing comassion ,kindness, and strength of spirit at our darkest hour. It is my hope that we remember we have a choice, and that we choose the latter.
always remember.
I thought about posting a "where were you" type of entry today but I couldn't do it. I even downloaded a photo from NASA of the smoke rising over Manhattan taken from the space station. It made me ill to look at it.
The memory came back of my mom calling me that morning with the words, "Turn on the TV - we're under attack." We stared at the picture unfolding in front of us trying to make some logic out of the surreal. It wasn't gonna happen.
BTW, Excalibur is one of my top 5s. Behold the Dragon's breath!
"I felt guilty relief in the knowledge that my loved ones were all safe, and abject terror at the thought of how quickly that illusion of safety can dissipate.
"
A perfect sentence, and a perfect summary for what we all felt.
What lies behind us, and what lies before us, are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.....
emerson
Well written. It's hard for me to get back there, viscerally, because so much has happened since and I'm so far away. But I'll never forget that initial horror and the subsequent coming together that was far too short lived.
I remember watching the financial markets and seeing the prices drop suddenly. Then watching the news and seeing that all going down. My boss picked up the phone to call our brokers in NY only to get a fast busy signal. He put down the phone and said, "Oh God Stac, they're in that building."
I remember thinking that life will never be the same. That it is the end of all we felt safe with believing.
My husband had been working on the 64th floor of Tower 2 the entire month of August 2001. We were in Europe for a wedding and were trapped an extra week (no flights).
As awful as it was watching it there, worse was my then4 year old son screaming with terror as we dragged him onto the flight from Paris to Chicago 5 days later.
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