As I stood at the chain link fence protecting Ground Zero from looting and onlookers from danger, I felt the gravity of the Earth increase four fold. In slow motion, I sank to my knees, and my forehead came to rest on the cool aluminum of the fence.
My ears echoed a cacophony of sounds…
Survivors reading names of the dead…
The agony of a mother’s cry…
Hundreds of footfalls as harried survivors fled…
A breath sucked in that could not escape the gaping mouth of an onlooker…
The thunderous rumble of the desiccated buildings…
Radio, feedback and static as orders squawked from its overworked speaker…
The barking of my friend’s cadaver dog…
Shrill musicality of The Spirit of Louisiana’s siren as it left Baton Rouge en route to Company 343…
The roar of the Blue Angels, shy one fighter…
A flag popping its canvas stripes straight in the wind…
The eerie sound of Taps on a bagpipe…
A twenty-one gun salute…
A saber rattling as a Marine’s salute settled…
The silence of the dead.
Kneeling at that cold fence, tears silently slid down my face as the enormity of the gaping wound in the ground yawned from the exhaustion of seeing already more than one billion pounds of crumbled concrete, twisted steel, dust, paper, dried flowers and disassociated body parts trucked to the East River dock to be barged away.
Acrid stenches of dust, diesel exhaust and the dead accosted my nostrils. My arms empathetically grew heavy feeling the weight hundreds carried, sifting through the debris to piece together the solution to preventing this tragedy in the future.
The weight of my heart pulled toward the hole, inversely desolate to the Towers’ triumph. An overwhelming sadness made my soul want to slide into the grave and comfort the spirits, longing for rest.
So many lives shattered in the blink of an eye.
So many who chose to go on their own terms.
So many goodbyes cached on cellular telephones and voice mails.
So many more whose loved ones would never hear that last Always know that I love you.
My fingers found the flag pinned patriotically to my chest. My mind’s eye saw Hawkeye Pierce flip the comment, Stirred, never shaken.
Hope backfilled the void in my heart. American defiance stiffened my spine as I regained my feet, still clutching the little flag. Deep inside me, a voice cried, I shall overcome. The deep resonant tone was filled with the tenor of the dead, the survivors and every person this land had touched.
So galvanized, we had become that day. In 53 tiny minutes, we were the nation that had arrived on the Mayflower. We were one. A family. Americans. I resolved never to let another lose that passion. I had always felt it.
How empty must be the hearts of those who cannot appreciate patriotism? They are the siblings who foolishly let petty rivalry overshadow the bonds of brotherhood. They are children, who will let the selfishness of a wish denied separate them from parental love. On September 11, 2001, as the parent was ripped violently away, the children realized their mistakes.
All of the initiative which had built those towers was still in our grasp. The rallying cry had only become a hollow echo of itself, but from those reverberations could we once again be the shoulder-to-shoulder battalion from whom foes would cringe and from whom the weak would learn. Just as we drew together on September 11, 2001, so we could again draw together to rebuild.
In no other place in the world had such diverse people held each other so closely. No matter our differences, we were one. Americans. Free and brave. We all long to be free and here alone could we be.
As I saw Lady Liberty, mother beckoning to the multitudinous orphans of the world, I knew on that day she had stumbled, yet took heart she had never fallen. She calls to us all to grow into and ever remain the Americans which make her so proud, gently admonishing us to never forget.
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Angela Young
/ September 11, 2012Wow!!!!
Angela Young recently posted..What a day!
Red
/ September 11, 2012Thank you quietly, Angie. 3
Bearman
/ September 11, 2012Very touching.
Bearman recently posted..Kermit Eating Pork: George Ford Guest Cartoon
Red
/ September 11, 2012Thank you quietly, Bearman. 3
Cat Forsley
/ September 11, 2012Sombre and very real Red …….
i’ve been feeling silent and very focused on prayer all day ….
Cat
love xx
Cat Forsley recently posted..I can Never forget – Cat Forsley ©
Red
/ September 11, 2012Thank you quietly, mon Chat Doux. 3
Cat Forsley
/ September 12, 2012Thank You always for your brilliant friendship xx
today is a new day – every moment we have is to be cherished xoxoxo
love xx
C
Cat Forsley recently posted..I can Never forget – Cat Forsley ©
C. Brown
/ September 11, 2012One of the most riveting tributes I’ve read.
C. Brown recently posted..…And Then…There Was Today
Red
/ September 12, 2012Thank you, Colleen. Great to see you tonight! <3
Androgoth
/ September 11, 2012What a fine tribute Red and of course we will never forget them… Such a tragic and unprecedented world event that shook the whole planet… So very sad indeed…
Androgoth XXx
Red
/ September 12, 2012Thank you, Andro. 3
Binky
/ September 11, 2012It was a very sad day, and hopefully there will be no others like it ever again.
Binky recently posted..True Knowledge
Red
/ September 12, 2012I am with you on that.
Lorre
/ September 11, 2012I’ve been gone far too long. What an compelling piece to read upon my return. Amazing and well written.
By the way, I love the new look.
Lorre recently posted..Weekly Photo Challenge : Wrong (and to many, undeniably offensive)
Red
/ September 12, 2012Thank you, chickadee. So very nice to see you, even if it is for this one.
raymond alexander kukkee
/ September 11, 2012This is beautiful and touching, Red.
As a Canadian, I can only relate to you the shock and horror of 9/11 — that unforgettable, horrible day — from my own experience–and how people around me reacted.
When the first plane hit the tower, I was in the radiation unit of the local hospital WAITING room…under stress, where doctors were desperately working on saving the life of my wife with her first radiation treatment. I could not believe what I saw on that big flat-screen television. It was a live broadcast from close to ground zero.
The people in the waiting room were all in the same state of shock, disbelief–the impossible juxtaposition—that WE were trying so hard to save lives of those we love , and these fanatical “people” were arbitrarily killing so many…it was surreal.
We thought war had been declared, with the closing down of air space . We saw the live moment when the second plane hit, and were stunned and horrifically silent when the towers collapsed–the people were crying…in disbelief. We thought many , many more people had been killed. And the other airliners–the Pentagon–it was ALL so surreal –and a horrible, tragedy, a inhumane criminal act –and an unbelievable insult to people so desperate for life in that cancer clinic.
Our thoughts and prayers for the families and victims–and all Americans.
We will never forget. Never. We grieve with you today–and always will. ~R
raymond alexander kukkee recently posted..Apples AND Tomatoes to Go
Red
/ September 12, 2012Thank you, Ray. My friends overseas all tell me the same. Like you, most of them saw the live feed of the second plane. I will never forget where I was either. We never forget the turning points in our lives. Our responsibility lies in teaching it to the next generations. For me, 11SEP will always be another day which will live in infamy, for apparently, we forgot the first.
Gail Thornton
/ September 11, 2012We the people, we are one.
Gail Thornton recently posted..Poem – Last Night’s Dream
Red
/ September 12, 2012That we may ever stay, Gail. We must stay. 3
Miss R
/ September 12, 2012So touching Red, and so painful to my heart. I’ve literally been in your shoes looking at that hole.
Thank you for posting this. All my love,
~R
xo
Miss R recently posted..Annual 9/11 Post. An Ex-Pat New Yorker looks at the Tragedy
Red
/ September 12, 2012I know you have, my sweet. All my love, Red. xxx