Remembering matters for healing.
9/11/2001 was a tragic day for us here in the US. And it pains me that 20 years later, there are those who are downplaying the tragedy or trashing the memory of that day.
This is a twitter thread by @BenFranklinMD1 to help us remember.
Ben Franklin, M.D.
@BenFranklinMD1
ThreadThreadThread
I fucking hate today. Every year for 20 years I hate today.
20 years ago a 14 year old me who skipped school to skateboard heard a plane scream overhead and saw it slam into the North tower. Then the next in the South.
20 years ago I heard over a payphone from my father, a NYPD Detective and RN “Son, we’ve been mobilized. We’re getting attacked.” Then he paused “I’m heading in, I love you. Take care of your Mom and Sister, they’ll be scared.” Then the line went dead.
20 years ago I watched people sail through the air and turn to liquid as they hit the ground. The sound of their impacts are something I can never get out of my head. Their desperation to not burn alive driving them to die like that.
20 years ago I saw so many other things before I would make it home, heard the sound of the world ending as the tower fell and the silence after the cloud got you. The only thing telling me I wasn’t dead was the sound of the firefighters distress alarms. No other sounds, darkness
20 years ago I didn’t hear from my father for three days. The TV’s alive with talks of further attacks being possible. A 14 year old thinking his father was dead, figuring out how he would protect his mother and younger sister in a new world full of hazards.
20 years ago I saw my father walk through the door, covered in soot and dirt from 3 days without sleep digging at ground zero desperate to save the innocent and his brothers who were still inside. I cried when he did and I could see in his eyes that on the inside he was dead.
A piece of him, a spark he always had, was gone. He silently ate after hugging us, threw up, showered, slept for an hour and went back.
20 years ago I watched as he and other detectives were forced to do morgue duty because it was considered a criminal case with bodies to process. I would later learn how so many of their brothers would come in, in pieces, wrapped into metal, being peeled off by them.
I hate today. I lost family that day. We all lost a lot of things. I lost my innocence. It hardened me at a young age. But I can never forget the love and the strength of those who ran in knowing death was certain just to try to get one more out. Or the strength of those after.
The strength of the cops, firefighters, steel workers, and everyone else at the pile risking themselves to try and save and later to recover anyone they could.
The strength of the families who lost those they loved. The strength of New Yorkers who rose up together in the face of this horror and with a resounding voice screamed one thing through their collective actions in the days after: Love
We went to many funerals. Many honor guards. Flag draped caskets. The sound of bagpipes to this day still makes me shake no matter where I am.
Never forget. #911NeverForget (sound on)
🧵Thread🧵
I fucking hate today. Every year for 20 years I hate today.
20 years ago a 14 year old me who skipped school to skateboard heard a plane scream overhead and saw it slam into the North tower. Then the next in the South.
— Ben Franklin, M.D. (@BenFranklinMD1) September 11, 2021
https://twitter.com/i/status/1436691229169917952
Lest we forget. 😢. Personally I will never forget that day. We had watched the scenes unfold and I remember my folks had been visiting from overseas and they were desperately trying to get in touch with my brother who was in the States on a plane. Everything had ground to a halt. Communications were trickling through. Planes grounded. The relief we felt when we finally managed to get in touch with him. How I went to pick up my son from childcare and hugged him tight. Praying for those for whom this day is always filled with dread and brings back nightmares. 🙏🏻
I was at home on leave when it happened. I casually called my sister-in-law in Connecticut for a chat; she told me to turn on the television. Later, she found out that her neighbour had died. When the tributes to family members and co-workers started coming in, the song that played in my head was Fire and Rain by James Taylor. Some of the lyrics seemed to fit the situation.
Fire and Rain
James Taylor
Just yesterday mornin’, they let me know you were gone
Suzanne, the plans they made put an end to you
I walked out this morning and I wrote down this song
I just can’t remember who to send it to
I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain
I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I’d see you again
Won’t you look down upon me, Jesus?
You’ve got to help me make a stand
You’ve just got to see me through another day
My body’s aching and my time is at hand
And I won’t make it any other way
Oh, I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain
I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I’d see you again
Been walking my mind to an easy time
My back turned towards the sun
Lord knows, when the cold wind blows
It’ll turn your head around
Well, there’s hours of time on the telephone line
To talk about things to come
Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground
Oh, I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain
I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I’d see you, baby
One more time again, now
Thought I’d see you one more time again
There’s just a few things coming my way this time around, now
Thought I’d see you, thought I’d see you, fire and rain, now
For non-commercial use only.
Data from: Musixmatch
@packmule3, Heartfelt thanks for remembering and for this post. I was on my way into work when I heard about the first plane hitting one tower. I thought it was probably a small prop plane out of Teterboro where there was pilot error. However, I detoured to the harbor where I could see the view of the twin towers. I saw the second plane hit. One thing for sure, there is nothing good to be said for disaster tourism, for want of a better term.
I then hightailed it into work and started phoning our administrators, my husband, my son’s school. I also started thinking about all the people I knew who worked at the trade center. Two of the three who I knew perished. Our best man lived because he and a colleague happened to go down to the shopping mall for coffee. He did not return to his office and began the .long into Brooklyn.
I got into trouble that day for sending my staff home (allowing for volunteers for a skeleton crew-an awful term given what happened that day). My staff wanted to be close to their families on that day full of uncertainty. My son was in his freshman year of high school and I wanted to bring him home. I didn’t care about getting disciplined. When I got my son, I didn’t care if I embarrassed him. I just kept hugging him until I got him to the car. When my husband came home we did a family group hug. And later that night we called our best man, who we were ecstatic made it out. He walked from downtown Manhattan to Coney Island. His description if the hardships were harrowing, especially after the buildings collapsed. He was covered in that gray dust that turned out to be an amalgam of building materials, asbestos and human remains.
That day was like the day I found out President Kennedy was shot. And for the older generation,Pearl Harbor.
We are still learning about more people who died that day, Thanks to scientific advancement of DNA technology.THE unidentified remains were taken to a part of the former landfill on Staten Island to await identification, no matter how long it takes. But we also know that people who lived below Canal Street and those who worked on the pile to recover remains have been sickened and died, the collateral damage of that day. Coupled with the people who died that day and those who were sickened and died, one cannot imagine the impact it had on families, nuclear and extended. It was also not just Americans who perished. New York is an international city and so much of the world had victims.
I will not forget that day. I will go to memorials and make rubbing of the names of people I knew. Sadly, remembering will never seem to be enough.
Ayear before I was a class mother accompanying my son’s middle school class on a trip to the Trade Center. We went up to the observation floors and deck to look out on the beautiful view of the New York Metropolitan area. I was responsible for five rambunctious boys who I had to corral to get them to meet school bus. we had a great time but I am forever grateful that the trip didn’t happen a year later.
@Packmule3, I will never forget the confusion and horror of that day. When the second plane hit the second tower, I surmised we were at war.
My heart broke for all the passengers and flight staff on the four planes, all the people in the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon who were so viciously killed. I grieved for those who ran toward danger to help save others and gave their lives, not only on that day but in following days and years due to the physical and mental damage they sustained. I ached for the families, friends, and neighbors of the victims.
Twenty years later my heartbreak, grief and empathy haven’t disappeared, but have become a part of who I am. Every time I board a commercial flight, I feel I am performing a small act of defiance against the fear that terrorists want to use to paralyze me. I never want to forget who and what was lost that day and following. I want to remember to whom I owe my resolve to live a brave, full life.
They will never be forgotten. That day was very sad, horrific, surreal and unforgettable. I pray for the ones who left us, their families and those who still lives through the scars and very dark memories.
I will always remember 9/11 and how many years it has been because I was pregnant with my first born who I delivered a week later. We were still in our home country then watching the evening cable news when hazy videos of a plane hitting the twin towers was shown and the chaos from below. We started calling relatives and family in the states, waking up folks in west coast who are not aware of what’s happening yet. We cannot contact east coast family until later. I always remind my daughter who is turning 20 as well and my younger son on what happened and we say a prayer for those who died, those who sacrificed and those who survived. We will never forget. 🙏🙏🙏
I will also remember 9/11, I remember being in my uni art studio class and hearing about it, watching it on the news and feeling like watching a movie become real. I didn’t know what to think of it at first, but it was scary listening to real people losing friends and family when i watched accounts of it as I imagine what it would be like being there itself. It is a horrific unimaginable day. Not a day to be forgotten.
I still remember where I was, when someone heard it on the radio first
and came to tell us. We didn’t know what really happened.
Was it an accident?
Then, I remember watching the news that night and I cried.
I haven’t forgotten. How can you?
I was a young teenager when that happened, and living across the globe, so from where I was, we received the news late at night. I remember my parents watching the news, shocked at what was happening. The next morning and many, many days thereafter, everyone was still talking about the tragedy, and was in awe as to how Americans united to help one another.
I may not be American, but the rest of the world remembers with you, especially the families for whom 9/11 will always also be personal tragedy.
We will never forget. Born to missionary parents overseas and growing attending American schools until I returned to Canada my junior year of high school, I felt more American than Canadian since most of my teachers growing up were Americans, and up until I moved to Canada, I knew more about American history and geography than I knew about Canadian history and geography.
I remember the day it happened. I had just started another year at university when our Canadian TV channels began to broadcast what was happening. As as the tragedy unfolded, my sister and I watched in horror and disbelief and tried calling our friends who were in the US, but were unable to get through. My sister later went to study political science and history and was involved in various charities that supported women’s rights in Afghanistan.
We had school in September 11th this year since we will have Moon Festival holiday next weekend. On September 11th, I made a point to teach my Taiwanese elementary students (I teach at a local bilingual school and teach in English 95% of the time) about the history, impact, and reasons why September 11th happened. We watched a short video from BrainPop, discussed the events, and listen to a beautiful story called September Roses based on a true story about two South African ladies who brought over 2,000 roses to New York City for a conference on September 10, but made a bed of roses in the shape of the Twin Towers as a memorial instead the next day. We ended our lesson by praying for healing, forgiveness and peace.
On Sunday, while taking the subway I read about Todd Beamer for the first time and read the full transcript of his phone conversation to an Airfone operator and FBI staff. Todd and his friends overtook the hijackers and died heroes who thwarted the fourth attack. Read it if you get a chance. I was balling my eyes out…
I want to read everyone’s story here carefully soon. Now I need to sort and take out the trash so I won’t miss the trash and recycling trucks that visit us at night in Taipei serenading “A Maiden’s Prayer.” 🙂
Lest we forget. Love from Taiwan!
I was stunned when I first heard the news, it was incomprehensible to me. It took some time for me to take it in and I was horrified and heartsick. My heart aches to think of the horror, the suffering, the sacrifice.
In a strange way, because we write our dates as day/month, I recall this date at least twice a year, because my son’s birthday is Nov 9, also written 9/11 over here, and I think of Sep 11 again.
Remembering with prayer.
Such a tragic day.
I’ll never forget seeing the people jump out the window and try and contemplate if I would classify that as suicide. So horrific. I spent Sunday reading articles and interviews and praying for those affected in any way.
I’ve read and heard the conversation between Todd Beamer on flight 93 and Lisa Jefferson the Verizon worker who talked to him on the phone and it never fails to make me emotional. However, this was the first time I’d read an interview with her
https://www.beliefnet.com/inspiration/2006/06/i-promised-i-wouldnt-hang-up.aspx
Something that stuck with me was her quote “God doesn’t care about your ability, He cares about your availability”
The second piece I read was on Richard Drew and the photograph he captured of The Falling Man. It reminded me of many of the cinematography discussions I’ve read here. Although horrific and maybe voyeuristic, I still credit those images for cementing the horror and terror I felt that day and for the families.
The last impactful piece I read was on Rick Rescorla
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2002/02/11/the-real-heroes-are-dead
“People like Rick, they don’t die old men. They aren’t destined for that and it isn’t right for them to do so. It just isn’t right, by God, for them to become feeble, old, and helpless sons of bitches. There are certain men born in this world, and they’re supposed to die setting an example for the rest of the weak bastards we’re surrounded with.”
I remember seeing the news about it on tv, even though I was still a child then, I could see how much impact it had on everyone. Absolutely heartbreaking.
Praying for those who have lost loved ones, though the pain will never go away, may they have still have a reason to live each day with strength and joy.
We are still experiencing the destruction of September 11, with 9/11 related diseases. The toxic residue lasted for more than months and the air remained polluted for a wide expanse. N eighbirhoods like Chinatown and Tribeca were affected. Many of these illnesses didn’t present for years afterwards. A friend, whose law offices were a few blocks away from the Trade Cener ultimately succumbed to cancer in the later 2000’s. It is not anywhere near ending. The emotional toll remains. About seven years ago I attended my husband’s colleagues wedding. His friend married a young woman whose firefighter father died at the Trade Center. He never got to walk her down the aisle. An otherwise happy event turned bittersweet. That wedding reminded me that time did not heal. Some memories are blunted. For many, the last phone messages have been saved in perpetuity l est the loved one’s voice be forgotten. People keep their artifacts-clothes and pillow cases that retain their smell, hairbrush and tooth brushes that retain DNA. Those of us who remain untouched count our lucky stars but we’ll know, it can happen to us. The suddenness caused the initial shock. It has changed us forever.
Hi,I m not American but I grieved with you Americans on tis day.
I rem me and my colleagues were so shocked when we heard the news, and were trying desperately to get in touch with our overseas branch office colleagues. Our branch office was located there at tat time, and we were praying hard that they were safe.