I have difficulty doing or saying anything on 9/11 for the past 11 years and today is not any different. I did not know any of the people who died as a result of those cruel, irrational and stunning attacks by a group of nihilistic sociopaths masquerading as devout Muslims. The 21st Century really began on that infamous day.
Today on the same site, the taller freedom tower is less than a year from completion and the ground level memorial park is already in place. In addition, all the underground subway, PATH commuter rail, and parking facilities have been restored. Still, I understand the emptiness felt by the families and friends of the innocent people who died at that place and elsewhere as a result of that coordinated terrorist attack. The event directly changed the lives of tens of thousands of people and indirectly tens of millions of people across the nation. For as long as people are alive who witnesses the event, it will remain one of the defining moments of their lives.
I was born in New York City and I lived there for 6 years before I moved to Toledo, Ohio with my parents and younger sister. From the early 1970?s through the late 1990?s we returned many times to New York and adjacent New Jersey because we still had friends and family living there. My last visit to the City was with my father occurred just a few years before the 9/11 attacks. We had lunch at the restaurant that sat atop one of the towers enjoying the view and each other?s company.
My father was an architect and a graduate of Columbia University in New York. He served as an assistant navigator on an Aircraft carrier in the Pacific Theatre of WWII. I remember hearing him say about the twin towers that many people complained about the brute angularity and sheer size of the buildings for years after they were constructed. Many people never liked their ?in your face? huge visual impact on the skyline of lower Manhattan. Over the years, most New Yorkers slowly began to accept them as part of the fabric of the city.
When 9/11 occurred my father was trapped in an assisted living facility in Westlake, Ohio near Cleveland. He was steadily dying of the many ravages imposed by the later stages of Parkinson?s disease. He was effectively a quadriplegic and had difficulty speaking and swallowing. For almost 2 years his spouse (my mother) visited him daily for many hours at a time. My family and I would stop by at least twice a week and sometimes took him for drives or walks around the area, though working with his special wheelchair was rather complicated.
The institutional food at my father?s nursing facility was just that ? institutional food that gave little sensory pleasure. Thus my mother (a great Italian cook) would prepare meals at home at least 3 times a week and bring them with her in order to feed my father real comfort food. We had tried to keep him home during his worsening condition for many years with some hired assistants but his condition worsened over time and we had no choice but to put him in a 24/7 facility.
In 2001, my sister lived and still lives with her husband in Western Michigan. Since my father?s two children both lived outside of Cleveland for much of his Parkinson?s deterioration during the late 1990?s, our mother bore the brunt of daily care for him. My spouse, our 2-year-old son and I only moved from Chicago back to Cleveland in 2001 to principally attend to a new business venture. I had to go back and forth once or twice a month between the two cities to also help with another new enterprise.
I visited my father on the afternoon of 9/11 after the twin towers were already smoldering rubble and thousands of people had died. He sat stunned and quietly watching the television while a few tears ran down his cheeks. I could see that his world of the 20th Century had quickly vanished. He quietly spoke of his overwhelming sorrow for the victims and their families, and that the 21st century would not be as kind to the U.S. as had been the prior 50 years. Even the depression and WWII through which he lived appeared less foreboding and far less nihilistic in hindsight than the uncertainty and senseless violence that might be our nation?s future. In a sense that is what terrorism is designed to accomplish ? instill perpetual fear in people of random death at any time that cannot be predicted, anticipated or prevented.
My father tried once to lighten the mood by saying that those who destroyed the twin towers were probably architectural critics who finally accomplished what all the negative reviews could not do ? remove the alleged two eyesores from lower Manhattan. However that comment was not satisfying for him and he simply shuddered, ?madness, just madness.?
My father was surprised and dismayed that hundreds of safety workers were sent up into the buildings when anyone in charge (familiar with the remaining time for a building after its structure has been seriously impacted and subjected to massive fire) would have refused any further entry. Their goals were laudable (to try saving trapped victims) but the vast majority of doomed people were stuck above the impact points of the 2 airplanes and they sadly could never be reached or saved. No matter how well a building is constructed, all edifices so seriously compromised structurally will eventually collapse within 2 hours. It was a design miracle that the twin towers came straight down instead of collapsing horizontally and causing even more deaths and surrounding damage.
9/11 was not any normal demolition. In most cases, the people occupying a building would not be around for its physical removal. The only times people and buildings are destroyed together are during wars or natural disasters. Fundamentalist Islam had declared war on the U.S. in a similar manner as the Empire of Japan had in December 1941. However so much was different in 2001 because there were no clearly identifiable nations or groups of people starting the war.
I have commented on TMV in several different posts that we as a nation over-reacted to 9/11 over the past 11 years. The misplaced military reactions are finally and slowly winding down. However the oppressive security state apparatus we have constructed in favor of creating a false sense of safety has destroyed many of our long-held constitutional rights as citizens.
My father died on December 14, 2001. I belive that after the 9/11 attacks, and because Parkinson?s Disease took away his ability to eat his spouse?s excellent meals and even to speak, his world and life became senseless, hopeless, and totally lacking in basic human pleasures. After 3 very difficult years, he was ready to let go of life and find out what lay beyond our earthly existence. The lives of his family and many friends, colleagues and acquaintances were forever positively changed by his life.
The great tragedy of 9/11 was the loss of so much human potential due to the delusional anger and stupidity of a small group of evil human beings. The many unique talents and human love of those who died on that day cannot be replaced. There will always be a deep wound in the lives of many people that even time will never be able to repair. The sheer size of human loss on one day and the overall audacity of the terrorist acts occurring on American soil have forever burned the events into our collective natiotonal memory.
The best memorial for those who died in New York City, Washington DC, and in 4 airplanes on 9/11, is to always remember them and quietly celebrate all the positive impacts they had on those around them ? not only during their lives, but as a result of their collective sacrifice on that day.
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine.
Respectfully Submitted by Marc Pascal from Phoenix, Arizona.
Source: http://themoderatevoice.com/159562/11-years-later-the-deep-wound-is-still-there/
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