Just Another 9/11 Post
On September 15th, 2001, a friend of mine, Honey, and I took the subway from Brooklyn to Penn Station to help Honey with her luggage. She was going to visit her parents in Maryland. It was a beautiful day, so when we left the station, we decided to walk around for a while rather than go back home. Waiting for a light to change, we heard a faint sound of bagpipes. We followed it.
When we reached the fire station, we looked around and suddenly found ourselves standing next to Bill Clinton. He gave a short statement to a group of reporters and started walking away. A few of the reporters tried to catch up with him, not paying attention to a man lying on a stretcher next to them. A few of the reporters fell over the injured man. He screamed in pain.
Next door to the fire station was a small store. I bought a disposable camera. We started walking downtown.
Remember how for a short time, before 9/11 was even known as 9/11, these patriotic displays weren't offensive? Maybe offensive isn't the right word. What I mean is that if you see a biker dressed like that today, then he's making a statement about himself and about the world around him, and that statement is often a confrontational one. Can you imagine today a group of New Yorkers standing in a circle and taking photos of a biker? But it made sense then, because his clothes made sense. And it's sad, because his clothes don't make sense today, because the memory of the attacks has been hijacked; taken away from the people, for the fascists in power to use as they please.
And look at Union Square.
This was our tragedy. It wasn't a New York tragedy or an American tragedy. It wasn't a Christian tragedy and it definitely wasn't a Republican one. It was a human tragedy. And the beauty of the people who were there to experience it was that they didn't go to the streets to demand blood, but to mourn. And for a short time, before the politicians made the connection between the attacks and the word Freedom, these were just murderous attacks on innocent people, and the American flag at the center of the peaceful gathering wasn't a symbol of retribution, but of unity.
We walked further downtown.
And further. Closer.
You know, I never got that picture below. Any conspiracy theorists out there?
You see people slowing down next to a car accident and you think, "What's wrong with these people?" And you hear about the people who found ways around police barriers just so they could experience it (whatever "it" was) with all five senses, and you ask that same question.
And I was one of these people. Because seeing images on TV wasn't enough, not after I could hear the tower collapse while walking the dogs in Prospect Park four days earlier; not after I could smell the burned papers that were carried over from the towers all the way to my empty hand in Brooklyn. It wan't enough. To make sense of it all, I had to see the empty space.
22 comments:
Well written.
What you said about "the word freedom". I think easier for people to think of fighting abstract concepts to help forget the fact they are dealing with real people. So "fighting for freedom", "war on terror", "defending honor", "avenging the infidels" even "eliminating poverty" all help us forget the people behind the words.
Yeah, all that good will. All that patriotism. It's all gone now, seven years later because of one of the most divisive administrations we've had as a country.
BUT, your post did remind me of those few months when we all felt like a whole country. It's a damn shame, really.
Every post I could write this, but, it's been a while so...PLEASE write a book one day, or just put these all in a book and I will buy it. Very touching piece.
I was in Spain right after the 3/11 bombings there. It was heartbreaking to stand in the subway station and look at tributes and also terrifying to reroute for several of our trips due to continued threats. Interesting that Spain was able to see that it was a tragedy and not wage a full blown war out of it. I'm pissed the 'retribution' ala Bush is still continuing... everyday that we stay in this falsely started war results in more innocent lives lost. Not to stray from eloquent speech, but it's a bunch of BS and criminal in my opinion.
Not sure where I was going with all that, but it does all take away from what we should be remembering about that day...the fact that thousands of people's lives were lost, and thousands more changed, forever.
I have always wanted to go to New York, but after 9/11, I wanted to go even more. Maybe that's weird. I miss that sense of unity. That's not to say that I ever want something like that to happen again. I just wish that we would remember that we are one again.
The squandering of that communal spirit is the tragedy of the tragedy.
Thank you for writing this, and for posting these pictures.
It seems so long ago.
I agree with the way you stated that this tragedy belonged to everyone. Unfortunately, some folks turned and twisted it and used it for their own gain. I feel that plenty of people know what I mean. Those photos are very powerful, makes my recount of that day look downright normal.
The connection you write about has never before, for me, been written about so clearly and so concisely before this post of yours.
Thank you.
What a well done post!
The pictures say a thousand words. It's sad how even with something like this, people try to twist it and turn it.
SJ, empty phrases quickly replaced real emotions. One day, even Bush and Guiliani called for unity and restraint, and the next day some insane woman on TV says abortions should be illegal because on September 11th we've learned how sacred life really was. It wasn't real anymore, once everyone started using it to push their agenda. And meanwhile, Paul McCartney sang on the Superbowl halftime show a song called "Freedom." We just allowed them to do whatever they wanted.
Freeman, it's weird for me to think now that patriotism isn't necessarily a bad word. And for a moment it wasn't. But that's how bad things have become. Patriotism was soon reduced to a flag covering the entire rear window and a call to arms.
Sarah, thanks.I agree about this being criminal. It's so weird and wrong that we spend so much effort jailing drug addicts, but the people who cynically destroyed the possibility for a better world while bringing about the killing of hundreds of thousands of people get off with a library named after them.
Shelli, we actually left soon after that, like we planned to do after the wedding. We didn't escape New York, but by that time we'd had enough. Empty slogans soon returned. I remember the cover of one of the papers was designed by the guy who first came up with the "I Love [heart] NY." The newspaper cover was the same, but it included "Now, more than ever." And, you know, it wasn't a bad thing. It wasn't "Bomb Iraq," but it was still empty. At least it meant nothing to me. Maybe no slogan could really capture what people felt, so the mere attempt to summarize it with a catchphrase offended me. I'm not sure.
Dan, thank you. I've had these photos in the original box I got from the Ritz store. They don't really belong in an album, you know? I'm glad I've finally found a home for them.
Sornie, you know, I like those pictures, but I don't know if they can capture the feeling of being there. First of all, the smell was horrible. And just being there, seeing those two steel beams that have since become the symbol of that day, you can't capture any of that.
Writer, thank you. I tend to think a few things in my head, and by the time they're written down they don't make any sense. I'm glad it came through this time.
B, thanks. It didn't take them long to see the benefit of using the attacks to get what they wanted, and it has always worked for them, which is why they did it again at their convention last week, showing bloody photos of the dead in a so-called tribute.
This is such a good first hand post on 'that' day. Thank you for it and the pictures.
You wrap it all up perfectly. The government, specifically the Rethugs, hijacked this day for their own political reasons..as KO said..9/11(tm).
Dusty, isn't it great that finally we have someone on TV who gives moderates a voice? And still it gets him in trouble. Frankly, I don't know how he can stay there after MSNBC'sa special 9/11 "documentary," which was just a re-airing of footage from the attacks in real-time. It was the most tasteless thing I've seen since--well, since the RNC convention.
This is beautiful and perfect!
Great post. Very genuine and honest. It's nice to read a 9/11 post that actually reflects the essence of that time, then and now.
Aimee and Luke, thank you.
Not much to add, but yes, very nice post. I was so Ike-preoccupied that day that the most I managed was to take part in a conversation about how little we were talking about it in the Houston area.
Still, we had our plates so full just preparing that I'm not sure how much having more in depth conversations would have mattered in the long run...it didn't get its due around here though.
My heartfelt congratulations on a serious and sincere 9/11 post that didn't include Alan Jackson or Toby Keith.
If I had the chance I would be interested in reliving that day as an adult. I got the confused child's perspective, since I was only 11 years old in a middle school science class.
Jill, I don't know what's the due the anniversary needs, you know? It's the first time I ever wrote anything about it. But I have a blog, and I had photos, and I felt it was time to share them, especially after watching the 9/11 tribute movie in the RNC convention and the way those guys have been cynically exploiting 9/11 for power.
Woozie, you know those singing cowboys really think the only real Americans are them and their listeners. And I don't think you had to be 11-years-old to be confused that day. We were all confused, and we're all far from understanding it all.
Yeah, I don't know what it's due is either. I'm pretty sure it shouldn't pass by unnoticed though. Unless you're trying to survive a hurricane or something.
Very good. Thank you for sharing.
Jill, yep. One thing at a time. There will be more anniversaries, and maybe one day we'll figure out what it all means.
Formerly, thank you. And thanks for your post, too.
I was talking to folks at Lehman that morning.
I haven't been to the city since before then, I said I'd move there after the first attack, I said I'd move there if they rebuilt the towers. Now that they are not going to rebuild the towers (and I never really liked them to be honest, but that's another issue entirely), I won't live there - not with the scab that the folks on the right have made this.
It's not right anymore - they've used it to turn us against each other. Patriotic my *ss.
1138, I always had a problem with the towers. They were too big and overbearing and impersonal for--I don't know, for human beings. It made it seem like Manhattan was a city of commerce rather than a place where people lived. But I also think that anyone who's ever seen the towers will always look at that space and feel like something is missing.
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