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Many of us share their grief, but many of us don't know it quite the way they do.
Karol Sheinen:
I could feel myself losing my cool. I was late for work and cab drivers in Manhattan seemed to be surprised that there was traffic during rush hour. The third cab that pulled over didn't get an option. I got in and closed the door behind me before he had a chance to say anything. I told him to take me to 42nd+Lex. He looked at me in the rearview mirror and said "Ok, I'll take you there but there's a lot of traffic...." I was just about to say "yeah, I know there's traffic, there's always traffic, welcome to New York" when he added "you know, because of the plane crashes."
It was plural. I didn't even get a chance to believe that it wasn't evil. I missed those 17 minutes where I might've thought this was a tragic accident.
Pamela Atlas remembers in pictures.
Liza at Culture Kitchen:
Evan was 4 when the towers collapsed. that night, i remember, he called the Empire State Building "my city". he can see the building through his bedroom window and wishes it a good night before going to bed. 9/11/2001 was different. the ESB went dark for the first time ever in my son's short life. he was worried that it too was going to be attacked and wiped-out. so i told him that it was sad and in mourning because it had lost its best friends.
"will it get its light back on, mommy?"
"eventually."
"why?"
"if your best friend disappeared and you knew you would never see him ever again, would you know when you would stop feeling sad?"
"no, not really."
"well, it will take the Empire State Building, your city, a while before it is not sad anymore. but one day, when it feels better, it will get its lights back on."
"will it be soon mommy."
"i hope so."
Allah misses them, too:
Here’s my own contribution: a link to an 18-minute film produced by the Port Authority in 1983 about the construction of the World Trade Center. This little curio affects me in a way that not even footage of the attacks manages to do; it comes, I assume, from being a City native and having grown up with the towers as part of reality. To watch film of them being made is like watching film of an old friend, since died, on his wedding day.
Update: Native New Yorker and Townhall reader Alan, from comments:
That Horrible Day |