9-11 Tribute in Light from Ground Zero

[auntie]

Earlier tonight I was outside on the back deck of my home. I had forgotten to take in some laundry that had been drying in the fresh September air earlier today. While performing my mundane chore, my eyes wandered westward toward Manhattan. That's when I saw them. The lights from Ground Zero shining into the clouds..or was the light shining from the heavens down onto a somber city?
For most of this day, I chose to avoid any coverage of 9-11. It is normally my custom to watch the coverage..and mark the moments of silence when the planes hit..and when the towers fell. To listen to each name of those who perished as it is read aloud by their loved one. I don't even know why..but I always just felt it was the least I could do. To listen..and remember. This year, having had a particulary rough time, and feeling somewhat sorry for myself...I figured, I needed to .."move on"..and not dwell on the memories of September 11, 2001.

Yet...there I was gathering laundry..and there they were..those lights. Those three thousand souls...
The lights...they are barely visable on this cloudy, sorrow filled evening 9 years later. All the more reason.....



May we never forget



________________________

 

[Judy in Texas]

I took myself to the Texas Rangers vs New York Yankees game tonight and wore my God Bless America, September 11, 2001, American flag t-shirt that our employee committee sold the week following 9-11. I saw one man with a similar type t-shirt and we had a brief discussion about people forgetting and the younger generation that is coming into adulthood not seeming to care.

I will always remember...

 

[MandMLUVMMandDVC]

What a horrible day. My hubby was flying, somewhere, I didn't have his schedule handy to know where, and I didn't know what airline(s) had been hijacked. It seemed like forever, but after about an hour he called me Also, we spent hours trying to reach my sister in Alexandria VA to find out about the Pentagon situation. Her line was busy. She was spending hours trying to reach my brother in law & his employees. We were fortunate that he was out of the town at a meeting. God was looking out for him that day (although he took him from us a few years ago in a traffic accident). Fortunately his employees were in a meeting a few doors down from their offices. They struggled to exit the Pentagon, but all made it out alive, physically & mentally injured, but alive. My BIL spent the next several months sifting thru the ashes & items found, along with CIA members. They had to watch over those without security clearances who were doing the 'dirty work' to make sure they didn't come across anything of a secure nature. I can't look at the pictures or watch the tv on the anniversary, it's too horrible and painful to me. Not only for what it did to our country, but the emotions I felt that day, trying to make sure my family was okay, rise to the top. The whole week leading up to it effects me.

Ron's secretary's office is the one on the top floor (the one with the computer monitor sitting on the filing cabinet) what isn't shown & I can't find a picture of on the internet, is the bowl of candy sitting on her desk. Her office was almost completely as it was prior to the plane crash.

you can still see the office in this overall view of the Pentagon.

Ron's office has collapsed to the ground, and almost everything he had in there burned. Metal objects melted. Almost everything he'd collected in his 20-year career was gone, but at least he was okay. His office is to the right of the van and just a bit above it

What upsets me most about these pictures is when I see them being used by those who believe this was a conspiracy. How is it that the monitor didn't move or the flag in the office directly below is still standing, etc etc.

Just wanted to share and vent a little.

 

[des1954]

I took myself to the Texas Rangers vs New York Yankees game tonight and wore my God Bless America, September 11, 2001, American flag t-shirt that our employee committee sold the week following 9-11. I saw one man with a similar type t-shirt and we had a brief discussion about people forgetting and the younger generation that is coming into adulthood not seeming to care.

I will always remember...

Judy - My DH & I had a similar conversation. Just west of Disney on I-4 is an electronic billboard whose message changes about every 20 seconds or so. One message was a silhouette of the WTC with the words "Never Forget". That started us thinking that our generation's grandchildren will know about 9/11, but it won't have the same meaning. They never lived in a USA that wasn't attacked by outside forces. Sort of like our children and their view of Pearl Harbor. They will know about it, but not have any personal attachment to it because it happened to their grandparents. Our generation heard the stories reiterated first hand by those who experienced it, and by the third generation the impact is gone. I think the impact of 9/11 awakened the fear all baby boomers experienced during the Cold War of the 60's and the threat of nuclear attack. I will never get the chill out of my soul from those incessant air raid drill. I mean honestly....how could shielding your eyes and placing your arm over your neck to protect it possibly be of any value during a nuclear attack? For that matter, how much protection would a flipped over desk offer or sitting in the hall facing the lockers give you? We're talking nuclear, here. All we can do is try to preserve and instill an undying love of America into the young people, tell our story, and hope they'll remember and honor it.

 

[polkadotsuitcase]

Can't speak for all parents, but I know that I've tried to pass along the impact to my kiddos (10 and 12). Last night, we watched the "as it happened" on MSNBC, and many questions were asked of me.

I massage words for a living, but it was incredibly hard to articulate the feelings and the impact of that day. The way I felt on September 10 and the way I felt on September 12 are polar opposite feelings, but very hard to articulate nevertheless.

One difference between 9/11 and Pearl Harbor is the magnitude of footage and coverage available now that wasn't then. I'd think that would help the younger generations more fully grasp the feeling, emotions, relevance, and impact of 9/11 in years to come.

 

[auntie]

Judy - My DH & I had a similar conversation. Just west of Disney on I-4 is an electronic billboard whose message changes about every 20 seconds or so. One message was a silhouette of the WTC with the words "Never Forget". That started us thinking that our generation's grandchildren will know about 9/11, but it won't have the same meaning. They never lived in a USA that wasn't attacked by outside forces. Sort of like our children and their view of Pearl Harbor. They will know about it, but not have any personal attachment to it because it happened to their grandparents. Our generation heard the stories reiterated first hand by those who experienced it, and by the third generation the impact is gone. I think the impact of 9/11 awakened the fear all baby boomers experienced during the Cold War of the 60's and the threat of nuclear attack. I will never get the chill out of my soul from those incessant air raid drill. I mean honestly....how could shielding your eyes and placing your arm over your neck to protect it possibly be of any value during a nuclear attack? For that matter, how much protection would a flipped over desk offer or sitting in the hall facing the lockers give you? We're talking nuclear, here. All we can do is try to preserve and instill an undying love of America into the young people, tell our story, and hope they'll remember and honor it.

You know Deb..you got me thinking about my grandmother. She lived above the shop for a good many years. (after being thrown out of almost every other place she lived for being somewhat..of a, well for lack of better term.. a nut job. ) She'd fight with anyone. I once asked my dad about this and he simply told me, she hadn't lived the easiest of lives and pretty much scraped and fought for everything they had. His dad died when he was young. So to say she had an "edge" about her..well, yeah she did.
In any case, If she hadn't come down stairs to the shop to chat, I go up and make sure she was okay before I left for the day. She always had News Radio 88 on in her kitchen. Even if she was in the living room watching TV I'd tell her "nan..what do you have this on in here for. You don't need to listen to the news 24/7.". This was waaay before
the type of 24 hour cable news that we all have now.
Yet, she insisted..she wanted to know if "something" happened.
I'd think to myself..like what would ever happen that would effect her She was cared for and wanted for nothing. I wrote it off to her being..um, eccentric.
Only after 9-11...I found myself thinking about her. It dawned on me..that she had lived through Pearl Harbor. I don't think until that time I had an appreciation of what people of that era must have gone through. Certainly they didn't have the communication and media that we have now. Relying on the radio for any bit of information they could get.
Funny thing is, ever since that horrific day.. I start every day..popping on the news. Given our proximity to Manhattan and that my son works there, it's just something I do. While I wouldn't say I live in fear..I don't take anything for granted either. It's just something I do. Same way, I don't leave the house without my cell phone. Much I think, the way my grandmother would keep that news radio in the kitchen on...just in case there was something she needed to know about.


Or... it's inherited, and I best reserve my room in the nut hut