A sad day. 😦
Hard to believe it is all those years ago now. I can still clearly remember my disbelief and shock as the news rolled out, and, later, looking up at a sky without any aircraft.
It was very strange.
At least my family and myself were well away from danger. My thoughts now go to the bereaved relatives and the injured and scarred from that awful day.
No Longer The Only One 
I was on my way to Newark to catch a plane back to Seattle. I'd been visiting a friend who had tickets to a four game Red Sox-Yankees series. The Sox lost the first three, and the fourth was rained out on the night of 9/10. We changed trains under the WTC on our way back to New Jersey, about 1AM on 9/11.I didn't lose any friends, but I know a number of people who either watched the events unfold from offices nearby, or inhaled a lot of dust in the evacuation. One friend, who works for the Wall Street Journal was hospitalized for more than a month because of the lung damage he suffered.I lost feeling, but I gained something important in the six days that followed (as I waited for a flight out): I found the resolve not to languish in work or life situations that don't provide an upside beyond money.It was a horrible day – the start of a horrible time – for so many people, and for so many reasons. I pray for the survivors, and the families who lost loved ones.
Matthew's words here are very apposite when he says:"It was a horrible day – the start of a horrible time – for so many people, and for so many reasons " I was on a bus in the city of London when I got a call telling me what was happening. Last time I was in NYC was 1997. I sat in a coffee bar in one of the Twin Towers. I still have the video showing the happiness of that day. It was a gentler time. I took NYC to my heart (I love the place) and the new yorkers I met were kind and courteous and very proud of their great city. No one can know the future. I wept deeply four years later when I heard and saw the news. I still wipe my eyes whenever I see the images being played back on tv news or documentaries.That day of infamy and tragedy brought out heroes from all walks of life. It gave witness to the human spirit there raising itself above the terror and disaster.I pray for all the families who are bereaved. I pray for those who survived.New York, New Yorkers, I love you
Thanks for that personal history, Matt. You were clearly a lot closer to the horror than I was. Good, though, that you were able to use the enforced time-out to reevaluate your life for the better. I suspect you are far from alone in that. 🙂
I can understand laughter. There are people here who laugh about earthquakes in the same manner. It doesn't seem to represent very enlightened thinging. 😦
It was my first day of work teaching in Northern China. I walked past the computer room and saw a group of teachers sitting around a monitor watching a movie, and laughing. I went closer, and saw that it wasn't a movie. And I went back later and criticized them for laughing. They were very interested to know how this affected me being a Canadian. The small city where my family lives is where they were diverting flights that could no longer land in the U.S. I was worried for them, but at the same time I knew I was probably in the 'safest' country in the world.
I hope that's it. I worry sometimes that the laughter is at the expense of people we don't like (because they've been villified by our history). We are, after all, just people. The plight of any people is the plight of all people, I think.
"We are, after all, just people. The plight of any people is the plight of all people, I think."Matthew – so very very true.Your sentiments are redolent of John DonneNo man is an island, entire of itselfevery man is a piece of the continent, a part of the mainif a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own wereany man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankindand therefore never send to know for whom the bell tollsit tolls for thee.
Thanks for those great comments, Loku, San and Matt. Chinese laughter, interesting. I think sometimes people – and the earthquake reaction fits here too – laugh at deep tragedy simply because they cannot process the horror. I doubt if there is any true humor behind it at all.
I was in school back then. I was still asleep then, as EST is a few hours ahead of us here. I heard the phone ringing. I couldn't figure out who would be calling so early. So I got up and answered it. It was my mom. She told me that something terrible was happening, and that I should turn on the news.So I sat on the couch and watched the live coverage. And I felt like I must still be in bed, dreaming, some nightmare.
Hahaha. Just like my dad. 😆
is this a deja vu moment matthew? 😀
Yep. Also of Walt Kelly: "We have met the enemy, and he is us," which I posted someplace else yesterday.When I get redundant, I realize I am becoming my father. 😆
😆 Groundhog day 😆
I'll get it right, sooner or later.
Great quotes, guys! 🙂
"When I get redundant, I realize I am becoming my father. " We are turning into the people our parents warned us about 😆
Yep, we sure are! And on top of that, when I get redundant, I realize I am becoming my father.
So they really did find it funny? What do you think their emotions were?
No, I know why they were laughing, and it's due to the way much of the world views America. They told me so.
They felt the Americans deserved it considering what "they" had done to other countries. Some of my students expressed the same sentiments. But after I talked with them they felt a little ashamed. Until a human face, an individual is put into a huge tragedy like this how can they see it as anything but symbolic? Just as when that huge earthquake happened in China a few months ago. It doesn't really touch us until we actually see some of the individuals affected by the disaster.
Thanks, San. That's not really surprising given the level of resentment that many overseas feel towards America (and it's usually towards the country itself, not towards its people in my experience). As you say, once a human face is added, it brings it all back home as it were.