Sept. 11 Joins D-Day in French Museum

Well, as you all know, I'm a New Yorker. I was here in town. My job was at an office in midtown with a 10am start time so, of course, I had not left my home... and did not. My wife works down in that neighborhood and called me to say "I'm okay but I'm having trouble getting out of the area." "What do you mean, you're okay?" "Two planes just hit the World Trade Center."

I am among the lucky few here who did not lose anyone directly but, like so many, I am only one degree of separation from a good two-dozen. A lady who worked two desks down from me in those days lost her sister on the 93rd floor.

There is very little I can say that hasn't been said better by people who were closer. One thing though: After the attacks, the amount of genuine help that came from everywhere was staggering. For all I know, some of you might have been among those who donated money, donated blood, sent cards and letters of encouragement. etc. If no New Yorker has ever said thank you for that help, let me take a moment on behalf of my 8.5 million neighbors to say THANK YOU for your money, your blood, and your good wishes. They meant the world.

To: DreadPirateRoberts,

No "thanks" are necessary. It was the right thing to do. It was the only thing to do.

By the way, did anyone remember it was the anniversary of D Day yesterday? Sixty-four years ago the Allies began the liberation of Europe from the Nazis at the beaches of Normandy.

To: Lovey,

I wrote a response to your comment of yesterday - just click "Older" above right.

As you would expect, I was swimming when the planes hit. But I was immediately on alert as my son and d-in-l were living in NYC at that time. They were fine... lived way up town. They were also involved in the volunteerism that sprung up. At one point, the call went out for sox. The rescuers were all walking around in wet, dirty sox. I guess that everybody felt they wanted to do SOMETHING and were frustrated that they could only stand by and watch. So 1000's of pairs of sox arrived. The call went out soon to PLEASE not bring any more sox down. That is how people responded. They just wanted to feel they were helping in some way. In July of that year, we had gone for a visit and had had Sunday brunch in the restaurant at the top of the World Trade Center. The picture taken of us will always be a family treasure.

The kids were in NYC because our d-in-l had taken a year off from the LA Opera and was studying voice with her voice teacher. After 9-11, she did develope some broncial problems from the polution but it was handled. The cat, too, suffered, but that was the cat's problem.

I remember going back the next spring. We went back down to the site and my son kept saying that he felt that all the visitors were simply being voyeurs. But I pointed out that he should look and listen. It was as though all were walking into a great cathedral. Everybody was walking slowly, respectfully, and you could hear a pin drop. Everybody was whispering most solemnly. We were not in a state of excitement to see the distruction, but we were all there to show our respect and to appreciate fully the enormous feats of heroism that had been carried out. The only people calling out were the street vendors that were trying to make a buck from the calamity. They were ignored and were often met with great scorn by those there to try to come to grips with it all.

To answer ExPat’s question, I’m sad and embarrassed to say that no, I did not remember that yesterday was “D” Day, a day when thousands of terrified soldiers went bravely beyond their deepest fears, fought and died with the hope of eradicating evil, preserving freedom and making their homelands safe. They all tried so very hard.

It is so very sad, so very ironic I think, that the same museum which commemorates the heroic deeds of that “day of days” which ultimately lead to the downfall of Nazism and all of its horrors, now also houses an exhibit which commemorates the day of one of the worst acts of cowardice and mass murder ever. A day that has quickened our worst fears; that of an enemy that can be literally living in some remote cave, yet be capable of causing mass destruction anywhere in the world.

Please don’t get me wrong, I’m not being critical of the museum. Nine-eleven should always be remembered, its victims mourned, its heroes, those who risked and/or lost their lives to save others, honored. We should also remember all of the efforts of those who sought to heal this terrible wound and be grateful to everyone dedicated to preventing this from happening again.

It’s just something that crossed my mind on a dark, stormy Saturday morning when reading about both events at the same time. I doubt if anyone on those battlefields back in 1944 could have even imagined a 9-11 happening after all they had been through.

To: South-Side John,

I not sure there's a differnce between Hitler in his final bunker and Bin Laden in his cave. They seem like appropriate places for them to end their lives.

How about a travelling exhibit for 9/11. The Vietnam Memorial Wall has a version that travels around the country. I've see it twice here in L.A. The first time, was very difficult for me...I just wandered around in front of it. The second time, I located the names of a few men I remembered being killed, several in my presence. Time puts everything into perspective and allows you to confront your demons.

A travelling 9/11 memorial with all the names would be a powerful reminder "not to forget" an act of cowardice that ended prematurely thousands of lives and hurt thousands of families.

to: ExPat,

I think the traveling exhibit is a good idea. Like the Vietnam traveling version, it brings the event closer to home, and besides, not everyone will travel to Washington and NYC. We have a miniature version of the Vietnam wall in one of our neighboring towns that gets a lot of traffic, which results in a lot of reflection, as it serves as the cornerstone to their annual 4th of July Celebration.

We as a nation are at our very best when times are at the very worst. Unfortunately we have short memories and lose our sense of perspective and priorities to quickly. We regress quickly from being eternally grateful for our lives, our families and our freedoms to complaining about traffic, the price of gas, and steroids in baseball.

Whenever I feel I have the weight of the world on my shoulders, I try to imagine what it was like to have been on a beachhead in Normandy in a jungle in Vietnam, or even what it was like for my father working in the Chicago stockyards at the age of fourteen; and I am able to quickly recalibrate my perspective.

As for Hitler and Bin Laden, the latter, although living in a cave, can frighten the world just by using an iPod.

Be well

To: South-Side John,

The jungles were very, very hot and humid. Strange sounds, interesting insects, and the kind of snakes you only want to see behind glass at the zoo would make you long for a morning at the beach. (Well, maybe not).

Be well, also.

I had a big tour today so I've been discussing WTC alot. One thing I didn't mention to my clients was the smell.

Everyone saw the towers fall on television. Everyone heard the shouts and the news comments, the phone calls from loved ones. Everyone heard the tears.

But only the people who were here remember the smell. Maybe it was still there when Spinner came. The smoke and the dust, the asbestos in the air during those early months. The entire downtown area was so often deserted because of the fear of breathing that air. I wasn't there often enough to be in fear of my life. But, on those rare occasions that I went downtown, the smell and what it meant hit me like a brick.

I've had people on my tour bus from halfway around the world who tell me they lost friends and family that day. Even those of us who didn't know anyone who was killed suffered a monumental loss. Something was stolen from us that day... stolen from behind.

Not long ago, I was leading a tour at the WTC site. A lady who worked for the WTC Memorial Museum came up to me and thanked me for the respectful manner in which I made my presentation. Then, she put a photograph of her son in my hand. He had been a firefighter and was killed in the towers. She threw her arms around me and we just stood and hugged for a minute or so in front of my tourists. It's strange to think how she's down there all the time now. Perhaps it is her way of making peace with her son's fate. I will never forget her.

To: ExPat

One of our favorite vacation haunts, and we are long overdue, is to have almond croissants at the Orange Inn in Laguna and then walk the beach.

To: DreadPirateRoberts,
Thank you for sharing with us.

I feel horrible to say that 9/11 never hit that hard with me. Granted, I was still in primary school [It was a little chaotic, but we had no ide what was happening. Some of my teachers had the news on, some kids were crying, other's didn't pay attention].
I distinctly remember thinking "Don't planes hit buildings all the time?"
I just hate that my generation is going to be asked about it in the future, and many of us won't have much to say.
We have had discussions in class every year since, and a lot of my peers share my... apathy.
[horrible word choice]
I/we all realize what happened, the devastation and impact, but that's after the fact, partially the media and the replay of the images over and over again.

But thanks to our heros and I'm deeply sorry for everyone's losses, on behalf of my generation.

Lovey:

I undestand what you're saying. And I hope I haven't been slathering my feelings all over you guys but I'm sure you all realize how LITERALLY close to home this is for me. And, by that same token, I see how it is NOT close to home for everyone.

In your case, Lovey, it's probably very much the way the Challenger disaster felt for me. I knew it was sad and it was certainly a shame that the nobility of exploration and discovery would be hampered. But my grief was much more intellectual than emotional.

But your generation will have its time (sadly enough). Every generation seems to have its news event that shakes them so to the core that they divide their lives into before/after. For me, it was 9/11; for my parents, it was Kennedy; for my grandparents, it was Pearl Harbor, etc. As the world goes round, every generation gets SOMETHING. And yours, sadly enough will be no different.

One of the things I am proudest of in my work is that I bring a lot of student groups, your age and younger, to the WTC site and really give them a sense of reality. So many people who go on their own come away thinking "It's just a hole in the ground". But no one who goes there with me (or any really good tour guide) feels that way. It's not JUST a hole in the ground; it's about something.

Your apathy makes perfect sense right now. But it won't always. When that change happens, you'll know and you'll be ready. I'm probably explaining this really badly. It's like being in love; if you've been there, you understand and if you haven't, hell if I can make it clear.

Perhaps the Kennedy assasination is similar for me. I was 14 when the President was shot and killed. I remember it because I was in school at the time and the teachers made much of it. The significance faded as I grew older. There were days at the beach to look forward to, learning to drive a car, trips to the beach, my first dates, the drive-in movies, the first moon landing. The 60's happened. And the turmoil of Vietnam.

Many years later it hit home. The tragic loss of Kennedy changed our country. No matter what anyone thinks of Kennedy today, it was said by his Secretary of defense that he had planned to withdraw our advisors from Vietnam. If this is true, then his death gave us Johnson, Nixon, the war, and Watergate. If he had lived what kind of world would we live in today? Who would I be today?

We can only dream.

And this might offer another perspective. In the early 70's, I met a survivor of the Titanic . She was an interesting person and told a tragic story. But it doesn't have real significance till you see a movie like the Titanic. It shows the horror of the event that she experienced first hand. I wish now I could tell her how remarkable it was that she lived. And how sad it was that her parents died in the sinking of that ship and she had no pictures of them. She could not remember what they looked like. They were not even faded images in her memory, only their names remained.

I was a small child when Pearl Harbor occurred, about 22 when Kennedy was assasinated, also in my 20's when MLK was killed, and in my early 60's when 9/11 occurred. One begins to wonder just what it is all about. Just when someone comes along that you begin to think could really make a difference, and BANG! Each of those experiences is very definitely set in my mind, even Pearl Harbor. So much hope. So many promised opportunities. And then the world takes a hard turn and everything changes. Perspectives change. Our whole national reality changes. I found at these times, I... how can I express this?...I have been sitting here trying to find the words and they won't come. It takes some time for the reality of not only the event itself to sink in, but the reality of how the world has changed and what has transpired because of the event. We have just passed the anniversary of Bobby Kenedy being shot and that too I remember with the same feeling. And as ExPat said, look at what we were then led into. That is why I am actually concerned about this election. There is such hope that finally we will be able to get an articulate statesman at the helm, but I have lived through all these experiences and just wonder... No, I am afraid. Just plain afraid. That is what happens when one ages and experiences too much senseless distruction. I know there is terrific goodness in the world, but it seems that so often that goodness is so easily overpowered by senseless evil. And with that, I close my dissertation.

You know what Spinner? I think we are all afraid. I know I am and I don't believe it has anything to do with age. I think the root cause of our fear is perhaps the loss of innocence that we in the US once had when the "Great American Dream" was still thought to be a doable. As the world grew smaller, as our trust/faith in the country's leaders/heroes fades because the microscope they are put under shows their warts and flaws for all to see, we are left wondering and dearly holding on to hope.

I still have hope. I believe that if we really have paid attention to history that we have learned much and become stronger. Just the short amount of time I've spent listening to and learning from the participants of this wonderful forum that we have has buoyed my level of hope even higher. There are still so many good folks in the world that really want to do what's right that it's only a matter of time until we can start chasing dreams again.

GAAAAK!!! That's the sound I'm making because some stage hand has hooked me by the neck and is dragging me of the stage.