9/11, Almost 10 Years Later

I cannot believe that it’s been almost 10 years since 9/11.  Logan and Lindsey were 3 months old and they slept until 9:30 that morning.  Someone burst through the door and woke me up after the first plane hit.  I stumbled to the TV and started watching.  I was in Florida, had just turned 21, and I watched in horror like everyone else did when the second plane hit.  That was the moment that we all remember—when we realized that it wasn’t an accident.  I was glued to the TV like everyone else around the world, crying, and I remember looking at Logan and Lindsey and thinking “What kind of world did I just bring you into?”  Being born in 1980, I feel like we had a pretty easy life and my generation probably took for granted that in high school, the only thing going on in the country was whether or not Clinton had sexual relations with that woman.  Then again, we are still constantly distracted by the sex lives of our politicians—I think that it’s only to make ourselves feel better, whereas back then, times were pretty good and we were spoiled.  Let’s just say right now, as a nation, “Yes!  If they are a politician, they are having sex with people other than with their wife!”  Why waste more of our time wondering if they are?  They are!  Enough about politicians and their sex lives…..back to 9/11. 

I remember talking to some of my friends on 9/11 and one of them was a student at Embry Riddle, where some of the pilots had learned how to fly.  FBI agents swarmed the campus, he said.  He also told me about some Muslims who were cheering as the buildings fell.  He said that when the ambulance got to the dorm, they were barely alive; they’d been beaten so badly by other students.  I remember being happy about it, which isn’t like me.  I remember how horrible we non-New Yorkers all felt and because of that, I have never been able to fathom what it must have been like to actually have been there.  Don and I went to New York when I was pregnant with Carson and Dylan.  I hadn’t been back since the attacks, and of course, my parents had a place there at the time.  We saw Ground Zero cleaned up, and we went to the memorial at the church nearby, and I still couldn’t believe that it had really happened.  I still cried, seven years later. 

I remember how frightened we all were for a long time after the attacks.  When I went to school in Chicago from 2002-2004, I remember that they wouldn’t make the city a no-fly zone and I couldn’t understand why.  I don’t remember what the reason was, but I remember that I was slightly paranoid and so was my mom.  At some point I had read an article where a stupid little boy terrorist pointed to the Sears Tower and said “That one’s mine”.   My mom and I had a plan, just in case there was a catastrophic event.  I walked past the Sears Tower every day on the way to school and I remember looking up when I heard a plane whizz by.  I saw other people do it too; it seemed that we were all at least a little on edge.  Cops covered where the cement blockades didn’t, and they were a reminder that it wasn’t safe yet.  Of course, that fear subsides with time, but I was there when there was a lot of stuff going on.   I flew out of Midway the day that martial law was declared in the airports, which made it difficult for anyone to get around, but especially for me because I had two babies and all of their junk.  People want to complain about taking their shoes off, but try folding down your double stroller and putting it on the belt while holding two babies with scary, frowning Marines breathing down your neck!  Let's just say that the military are better at serving a dose of intimidation rather than hospitality.  I was in Chicago during all of the crazy protests that were being aired on worldwide news, when French Fries were called “Freedom Fries” and I was there on the eve of “Shock and Awe”.  I have to say, it was awesome to see it as a journalism student, but the tension was a little scary.  People were raging, still tender from 9/11.  And as many who opposed the war, there were people still desperately looking for someone to blame.  We have had a lot of tense moments over the last ten years, that’s for sure.  Let’s just say that my journalism classes covered real-world material on a daily basis.  Our teachers were sensitive to what was going on and we learned a lot.  I didn’t realize how much turmoil we were in until later; it was crazy.   

I watched a new documentary on the Discovery Channel, and I think it’s on the Science channel too, about the rebuilding of Ground Zero a couple of nights ago.  It was really interesting.  I am blogging about 9/11 early just so I can tell you to watch this thing on the anniversary.  (I am posting the description at the end of the post.)  Right after 9/11, I remember when there was talk about rebuilding and I was really angry.  I was appalled that they could even talk about rebuilding on sacred land.  That tells you how young I was…..there is no way that land worth that much could ever just sit there, which is what my mom and Greg said.  A parking place in Manhattan is worth $250,000 sometimes, so yeah, I was naïve.   The architecture of the memorial and buildings holds a lot of meaning and symbolism, and you really should try to catch this show to learn more about it.  What broke my heart most during this documentary is that the people who cleaned up the area after the attacks and who are still there rebuilding, are dying.  One of the guys says that he only has like 7 years to live.  He said that they are all getting weird diseases.  He’s had 4 or 5 heart surgeries since 9/11.  He said that they could walk away, but that they can’t.  He says that they have to finish. 

I remember seeing an article in Time magazine about a year after the attacks.  It was about all of the 9/11 babies, and over the years I have seen updates on the same families and kids.  I have always hoped that there would be some happy and beautiful ending to all of this, but really?  We are still seeing the effects 10 years later.  These kids still don’t have parents, people are still dying, and they hurt us more than we even imagined that day.  Bin Laden is dead, so that’s cool, but where there’s one nut there’s another.  Will this ever really be resolved?  Can the people who were robbed of their loved ones really be ok?  I still remember a few days after the attacks; there was a guy on the Today show looking for his wife.  He still held out hope that she was still alive.  She was maybe 25, beautiful girl—a picture of her in her wedding gown was frozen on the TV as they played her voicemail.  I remember that she was crying and talking to her husband “I’m on the ___ floor and I’m not going to get out.  There’s a line of people, so I can’t talk long, but I just want you to know that I love you and you’ve made me really happy.”  She was crying.  Can you imagine making a call like that?  Can you imagine receiving a message like that?  Can you imagine what it must have been like on either end?  And no matter how happy that guy is now, he lost his wife and he has to deal with that for the rest of his life.  I think I remember her mainly because she was about my age and was just beginning her life.

I am writing all of this because I get very irritated that people forget about what happened and I figure I should write about it before the anniversary.  Remember that there are still people living the pain from that awful day, physically and emotionally.  Say a prayer for them.  You know that the 10 year anniversary has to be tough on these people.  We should also remember the other people and the other sites that were attacked.  I am guilty of talking about the Twin Towers a lot and not the others because the visual in NY was so horrific, but I shouldn't do that.  Let’s all pay our respects as well as we can, and I hope that my cynicism will prove to be wrong and that things will eventually be peaceful in the long run.  How about this for a happy ending—how about it gets so hot in the Middle East that the sun just POOF, turns everything into dust over there?  I’d be happy with that! It’s like, get along, people!  Leave Western Civilization alone!  I know, I know.  I can hear the other side out there…..WE bother THEM, blah blah blah!  I hear you now, so I think this is where I bow out…..I’m still pissed about Daniel Pearl and have nothing nice to say.  Good thing I am not in charge of international diplomacy.  I’d nuke ‘em. 

Here’s the info on the documentary I am referring to…..playing it again on September 11^th. 

RISING: REBUILDING GROUND ZERO

Sunday, September 11, beginning at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT

From executive producer Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks Television and coinciding with the tenth anniversary of September 11th, the six-hour event RISING: REBUILDING GROUND ZERO takes a comprehensive look at one of the most daunting construction jobs America has ever undertaken. Building four skyscrapers, a transportation hub, a museum and a memorial featuring the largest man-made waterfall in history - at the same time on the same site - presents an unprecedented set of engineering challenges. From the design to the materials to the raw emotions and heavy hearts, RISING: REBUILDING GROUND ZERO chronicles the teamwork and innovation involved in reining in a beast of planning, timing and coordination. The special also looks at the rebirth of Lower Manhattan through the eyes of the residents who survived the horrors of 9/11 to reclaim and rebuild their neighborhood.