<p>I was waiting all day today for a 9/11 thread (no, not THAT malicious political thread), so I guess its my job to post this now.</p>
<p>To my fellow New Yorkers, to my friends who found their way down smoking stairs, to my dear husband who walked for 7 hours to get home from downtown, to my workmates who supported each other during a frantic search for their family members, to those ones who returned home that day and to those ones who did not: we remember.</p>
<p>And let us not forget the victims of the Pentagon and all airline personnel and passengers.</p>
<p>Thanks, btm.</p>
<p>A lot of people here would rather forget 9/11 and pretend that it didn’t happen. </p>
<p>It doesn’t fit into their neat and tidy crystal clear view of the world.</p>
<p>Let us never forget.</p>
<p>This day is just so heavy. I don’t know if it’s because today is also Tuesday, but today seems the worst. I haven’t been able to stop the slideshow of that day from playing over and over in my head. things, like the Canadian Mounty directing traffic on the FDR, flowers and shrines and bunting at every fire house, thousands of missing posters on telephone poles, so many things that I haven’t thought of in a long time. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. How could I ever forget when so many streets in my neighborhood are named for the fallen. Someone’s street, someone else’s avenue, yet another’s boulevard. Of course we’ll never forget.</p>
<p>The last 48 hours have been heavy here, although primarily for more immediate and unrelated reasons. At any rate, here’s to tomorrow, when it’s supposed to be sunny and 77 degrees.</p>
<p>ZM, yes, piles of dust, smell in the air, traffic detours, being afraid to call your friends to find out the news… And American flags - they started appearing a few days later and soon they were everywhere: cars, houses, trees. I did not cry on that day, but I started crying when I saw the first flag and this happened over and over again. </p>
<p>In retrospect, we’ve lost more then people’s lives, we’ve lost our illusions, our comfortable ignorance, our false sense of security, our position of a bystander. For better or for worse, whether or not we’ve realized it back then, this was a decision time and people have found their answers. Ultimately, that day has polarized the country. It makes me sick, literally sick, that for some people the only merit of 9/11 is to slam the government, the only appeal of a hero is to bring him down and the only purpose of lost lives is to prove their point. What makes me mad is that their choices may lead to a catastrophe. What gives me hope is that they are too few, too irrelevant and too sluggish to make a real harm. What gives me even more hope is that their children grow to disagree and, unlike the parents, they prove it through action, even though it means giving up their comfort and safety.</p>
<p>“…that day has polarized the country.”</p>
<p>btm, that day brought Americans closer together than anything I certainly could remember. Don’t lose faith. I heard someone speak over the weekend about how our buildings may be threatened, our lives may be taken but our “Americaness” - if their is such a word - won’t be taken. We are an incredibly resilient people - we’re very powerful, too - but that’s generally not what I think of when I think about America. I think about our freedoms to do just about anything, I think about our generosity, I think about our wonderful opportunities and think about all those people on 911 who certainly didn’t run away, who came from all over just to help.<br>
Dissent is also one of those freedoms. Listen to it, enjoy it, or completely ignore it. It’s all part of why I am so damn happy I’m an American!</p>
<p>“like the Canadian Mounty directing traffic on the FDR”</p>
<p>??? </p>
<p>What is this in reference to? link? what is “the FDR”?</p>
<p>The FDR, named after Franklin Delano Roosevelt (my personal favorite president), is the “highway” on the East River side of Manhattan Island. It runs from the very southern tip at the Staten Island Ferry depot to the very north of Manhattan ~ 178St which because of the narrowing of Manhattan at that end is actually on the west side. I mean. it’s still the eastern side of the island but when you get off the FDR the streets are “West” 168st. Have I totally confused you??
The Mountie was doing what he could, direct traffic, and since he was in uniform, it helped!</p>
<p>As Woody so kindly pointed out, the FDR is a highway runs the length of Manhattan on the East Side. On the day of and weeks following 9/11, the West Side Highway was closed, so all Manhattan traffic had to pile onto the FDR. As you can imagine, gridlock ensued, so there were law enforcement officers at every intersection to direct traffic. Many of those officers were from other cities and states, but the Merry Mountie (that’s my name for him) was the only officer I personally saw from another country. He was a chubby black man with a huge smile and personality. His gestures were like theater and I remember him so fondly as a bright light in a dark time. One night when we were stuck in traffic, the bus driver opened the door and asked “what are you doing here, brother” and he answered “I got your back New York!”</p>
<p>Missed this thread yesterday but thought I would post anyway. I keep waiting for the year when I do not think so much about that day. Remember also the people on United flight 93, who prevented another terrible attack on my hometown.</p>
<p>I was relieved that it rained yesterday. Seeing that clear-blue September sky always makes the memories so vivid.</p>