SEPTEMBER 11TH:
MUST BE FOREVER IN MEMORIAM
The past is not dead;
It's not even past.
-William Faulkner
By Victor Lana
As many Americans mark the fourth anniversary of 9/11 in a variety of ways, there is still pain, anger, and frustration about what happened in New York, Washington, and a field in Pennsylvania that day. Innocent people who were at work in the target buildings, families going on vacation, children visiting relatives, and dedicated flight crews tending to air travelers were brutally murdered by a group of cowardly thugs.
There was nothing brave about the hijackers (as some obviously insane pundits here in America once suggested), but their appalling actions created opportunities for many people to become heroes: the rescuers at the Twin Towers, many of whom never went home; the co-workers at the Pentagon and World Trade Center, and even a group of passengers on a doomed jet who learned of the other attacks on cell phones and were determined to stop that last plane. And stop it they did.
In memory there is sometimes comfort, but I still find nothing of the sort. During the weeks and months after 9/11, there was a good deal of talk about "closure." I still have found none. My sister lost a good man that day in the South Tower, a fire lieutenant with more bravery and tenacity in his little finger than all of those criminals who hijacked the jets put together. They got up as on any normal day; she gave him twenty bucks to buy bagels for the guys at the firehouse, and he was off to work and she would never see him again.
There are countless stories like this. You don't have to be a New Yorker to know about them, to understand their impact on individuals as well as the city itself and our country as a whole. Everyday people were thrust into an extraordinary and unprecedented crisis. I was stuck at work while my wife was home with our new baby. Even though my family was miles away from the towers, I feared for them as I couldn't get a signal on my cell phone. No one at work could get a signal. It was like something out of a horror film as those buildings came down, but only it was frighteningly real. Was the whole country under attack? Waiting to learn more about what was happening, I felt helpless and powerless. Most of the time I still do.
Article comments
1 - Joan Puwalski
This article speaks to me. It puts into words my feelings and emotions. Thank you for so such a heart felt, beautifully written piece.
2 - Victor Lana
Joan,
Thanks for reading my post and your comments.