<p>[9/11</a> Baby - baby_rn - Past Life Forum](<a href=“http://www.childpastlives.org/vBulletin/showthread.php?t=15439]9/11”>http://www.childpastlives.org/vBulletin/showthread.php?t=15439)</p>
<p>Possible?</p>
<p>I had not heard of Michael Richards, and I’m amazed that there was an artist’s studio in the towers. I thought there were only investment banks, law firms, and other businesses. He must have been quite successful to have that space. </p>
<p>Yet another great loss. I started to watch the “red bandanna” video, but couldn’t finish it. It was just too heartbreaking.</p>
<p>I think that what makes 9/11 so traumatic for all of us is the scale of the tragedy. We all have our personal tragedies - untimely deaths of friends and relatives - but it is harder for a society to absorb losses when there are so many at once. Most of the people who died in the towers were quite young, and the fact that 10% of the victims were firefighters and other rescue workers is horrifying. </p>
<p>I remember that hospitals in Boston and other surrounding cities were clearing their beds for the expected overflow from NYC. Hospitals in NY were waiting for victims. I remember that later in the day my friend down the street, whose husband is a doctor at the hospital closest to the towers, had called to say that there weren’t any victims. People either walked away or died in the towers. I believe that there were fewer than 20 people who survived with serious injuries.</p>
<p>poetsheart - beautiful post.</p>
<p>I, too, find it hard to believe there is anything ‘noble’ in the taking of someone else’s life. Now, giving one’s own life for a more important cause – that is noble – but NOT if others die, against their will, in the process – never, never, never…</p>
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I remember that as well. It took a while to sink in though. We held out hope for so long. Remember the rumor that there was huge pocket of air in the subway station and may people were there? Didn’t happen.</p>
<p>When I got home that night (my office phones went out and stayed out for an entire month), I had not been in contact with my family for about 10 hours because I didn’t have a cell phone then, so I didn’t know all the up-to-the minute news. When I walked in my family was, of course, thrilled, but the first thing I heard was an estimate of 300 dead firefighters. I still can’t comprehend that number.</p>
<p>My mother was teaching ceramics at a senior center near the Staten Island ferry that day and the ferry was stopped on the Staten Island side for days, so the tourists who had been on the ferry were stuck there (the bridges and tunnels were all closed), so mom and the people at the senior center all took home strangers for a couple of days to feed and keep safe.</p>
<p>^Those are the untold stories of great kindness that America exhibits when we are united by tragic events. I remember the days and weeks after 9/11 there were no strangers, everyone shared one common feeling.</p>
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I think one thing that makes 9/11 “different” is that it was a large scale human v. human attack. Not government v. government. Innocent civilians were the targets. Terrorism is the right word for it. It is terrifying.</p>
<p>I don’t mean to minimize the magnitude of the tragedy, but I distinctly remember when I saw the first tower collapse on TV - knowing how many people work in that building, and having no idea how far along the evacuation was -, I was sure the death toll would be at least 20,000. Also, living in a big wall street town in NJ, I thought hundreds of my neighbors likely perished. In the end it was less than 10 from our town. A large scale tragedy for sure, but it could have been far worse.</p>
<p>^ sorry…but a strange reaction from anyone living remotely close to the city or in a town where 10 people died.</p>
<p>You are right when you think about how much worse the death toll could have been but the devastation of life along with the devastation to NY and the economy in the months and years to follow were horrific.</p>
<p>I know what NJres means. I was also expecting many, many more casualties. There were several reasons that there were not more people affected. The planes hit early - if they’d come an hour or two later, many more people would have been at work, on that day, especially. It was the first day of school and an election day.</p>
<p>Thank you to everyone for your answers to my question. I appreciate it.</p>
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<p>I have to disagree with this though. 9/11 isn’t the only human vs. human attack. and there were and are certainly government vs. human attacks. not to offend, that’s my opinion though.</p>
<p>thanks again to everyone.</p>
<p>^^re: acts of kindness, has anyone else seen the documentary on how the Canadian people (I forget where it was…an island on the east coast) took in strangers when planes from overseas, on their way to the US, were forced to land there since all air traffic was stopped? A tiny tiny airport was the stopping point for dozens of planes. Unbelievable kindness on the part of the Canadian people, they took total strangers in for days.</p>
<p>Something that many people don’t know is that after the attack, the Staten Island ferry was pulled out of service in hopes of carrying injured people, and the bridges were all closed, so Staten Island was effectively cut off and Islanders couldn’t get home. Aware of that, a group of pleasure boaters came to lower Manhattan and transported people home in one of the largest movements of people by civilians.</p>
<p>I think I know what NJ means. I lived through a major quake in 1994 and around 60 people died. The quake happened at 4:30 a.m. As we became aware of the extent of the damage, we all realized that the death toll would have been far more devastating had it been at 4:30 p.m. It didn’t mean it wasn’t horrible as it was, just that it could have been worse.</p>
<p>I remember that blood banks were overrun with donations - people were standing in long lines to donate blood. As it turned out, it was not needed - very few injured survivors.</p>
<p>Thought about it for quite awhile before I decided to post a September 11 thought.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The posters of the missing; like Zooser said, the heartbreak of seeing those photos everywhere for months was nearly overwhelming.</p></li>
<li><p>The torment of…‘what if?’ What if I hadn’t been late to work that morning? What if I had been standing on the platform of the WTC subway station at my usual time?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I still tremble when I think of my sister’s words to my mother out west after sis woke to the TV news of the attack, “have you heard from Lake this morning?” Sis had visited the east coast just three days earlier and we stood together at the WTC station platform at morning rush hour.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The Funerals; I began to visit out-of-town family more often that fall. On every trip from September through the end of the year I invariably ended up trailing a weekend funeral proccession on Interstate 95.</p></li>
<li><p>Gratitude for the Heroes; I can’t adequately express my gratitude to the staff of the Children’s Discovery Center School, who valiantly but calmly led those pre-schoolers out of the confusion after the first plane hit the towers. Many parents will be emotionally indebted to them for life.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>NYMomof2, regarding Michael Richards, the sculptor who died…there was unused space in the towers, and back in September of 2001 twelve artists were being permitted to use some of it under a special program of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.</p>
<p>Richards lived elsewhere but had decided to work late and sleep in his studio the night before the attacks.</p>
<p>Thanks for the backstory, NJTheatreMOM. Another “what if” - it’s so unusual for artists to be in space like that. Those 12 artists must have thought they were lucky when they won the use of that space. I imagine that the 11 others were not there so early in the morning.</p>
<p>justamom5465 you asre talking about Gander Newfoundland. I do not know the exact figures but apparently over 200 planes were directed there during this emergency and yes they fed and cared for everyone. You can search what gander did on 9/11 and there is a meriad of information. I am Canadian and feel alot of the same feeling that are being expressed here. No I did not know anyone who died but I do know some that were affected. I cannot say that I am surprised that this happened but I still feel very discouraged that it did. What I also remember is the number of people from Canada that went down to help with the rescue effort.</p>
<p>Actually, I think there were more than twelve artists with studio space in the towers. Richards was the only one who died.</p>
<p>The following link has some info that may be of interest. Scroll down to “A Local Perspective.” </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=1005[/url]”>http://www.artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=1005</a></p>
<p>StoryCorp is a non profit group that offers the opportunity to all to share their stories. They have recorded many 9/11 stories and some have been made into animated shorts. Their goal is the record one story for every life lost. You can see them here. </p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://storycorps.org/]StoryCorps[/url”>http://storycorps.org/]StoryCorps[/url</a>]</p>