
"Twin Towers in Light" from www.prunejuicemedia.com
It's so hard to believe it's September 11th once more, let alone September 11, 2014 - 13 years after that fateful day, the day that changed all our lives and our way of living forever. Many of you know that I was downtown in Manhattan on 911; in fact, my husband and I had just moved in to an apartment just blocks east of the Trade Center which had turned my 50 minute commute to my job at One Wall Street in to a seven minute walk. I felt so lucky.
A week after 9/11, we were all trying to put our lives back in order. We rose every day, showered, dressed and headed to our jobs which happened to be only blocks away from Ground Zero. It took a Herculean effort just to put one foot in front of the other, but we all did it knowing each step took us just that much further away from the horrific events of that day. None of it made sense to us, the violence, the death, the destruction ... the stench, the ash, the crushed steel ... the hatred.
New Yorkers are a strange breed, I've been told. We're described as gruff, aggressive, and often rude, and maybe we are - New York is a big city with millions of residents and a million or more in daily commuters. We compete for everything - jobs, taxis, restaurant reservations, theater tickets, and seats on the subway, and we all want to end up "on top". But in the face of adversity, whether it's a blizzard, a transit strike, or a terrorist attack, New Yorkers band together like no others I've ever known. No one is a stranger to another at those times, and we would go out of our way to help each other - perhaps it's a crowded island mentality - who knows? All I do know is New York was an incredibly assuring place to be after 9/11. We were all in the same fragile place in our minds and hearts, all grappling with wrapping our heads around all we'd seen and experienced. We respected each other's weaknesses and human frailties, never asking "where were you" because we knew the pain it would cause remembering.
Several days after returning to our offices a friend posted a poem on a hall wall, a poem that was written by his young teenage daughter - a girl grappling with it all as well. I came across this poem a few weeks ago, found it just as poignant as it was in 2001, and got permission to share it with you here, as she says, "God Bless America".
9-11-01
I can't stop this hurt
Sleepless nights
of pain Filled with tears
These images won't leave me
Over and over they play
I can hardly turn away from the evil TV
Showing me pictures
of hate
I almost lost my father
The one I thought I could live without
But now I know
Life has changed
Now I know I need him
I lay in the grass
staring at the sky of smoke
Will it ever be the same?
They took the lives of innocence
Countless mothers and fathers
won't be coming home
The evil will laugh at the numbers....
All I can do is cry
It seems like it never stops
I can't run from this problemn
not this time
Why does my heart feel so heavy?
The look on my father's face no longer tells me
everything's going to be alright
he is just as helpless as I
Is it wrong to laugh?
Because this guilt I feel I can no longer hold inside
All I can do is sit and cry
wondering why them?
why now?
I stare blankly at the picture
of the twin towers hanging over my bedroom mirror
each morning
and I remember, that no matter
how many times I pinch myself
It's not a nightmare
they won't be there
All that remains is a memory
Piles of twisted unforgiving steel
that last week touched the sky
now lay in the streets
Hiding life underneath
It is not lonely me who cries alone each night
America is crying
No cheek has been untouched
Eyes are no longer dry
It's a mystery how this world works
what evils hide in its mist?
A husband with a pregnant wife
was taken
she gave birth just yesterday
no one can forget
The day the sky turned to gray and
flames touched the clouds
Terror came from above
No one will forget the faces
splashed with pain and tears
holding anger in their hearts
The dust seems to be clearing now
but our visions are still filled with uncertainty
Now the future is bleak and unsure
Yet We will recover,
But never again be the same
The day of Infamy as it has been called
has shaken our souls to the core
We will never forget
Ever
We shall Overcome
God Bless America
9/18/2001
A young girl age 14