On September 11, 2001, I awoke feeling an intense heaviness in my Entire Being. I could barely get out of bed. Unusual. Completely listless. But I had to shake off the lethargy, wake up, and move toward getting to my fun job at a gay men's magazine. Once able to almost function, I lurched off the bed and into the confines of my environment only to discover there was a plumbing problem in the abode. The General Abode. Not one specific room. I had to wake up, but I felt so heavy in spirit. I recall thinking I might be "coming down" with something. But, a problem was in need of fixing, so I called the manager of my quaint little apartment to request a plumber. He groaned and said he would send someone over "right away" and hung up. I gather I had awakened him.
Knowing I would be late for work, I called into the office. Expecting someone else to answer the phone, I was stunned when our publisher answered. Stunned because he and two others from the magazine were to be on a flight to New York for a series of key meetings I had arranged with companies that, until then, had not been open to advertising with a popular gay men's magazine. Doors were opening at last and everyone was looking forward to finally breaking through the "Not now" mantras of the past.
Our publisher was hysterical. He said, "We are at war! We're being bombed! Stay home! Turn on the TV!"
Whoa! With the TV now on, I, as with millions around the world, watched the disaster of the Twin Towers' collapse unfold. The dark, billowing dust clouds were rolling down Manhattan streets as reporters ran for their lives while trying to express with each step what they were going through. Mind-boggling to watch a tornado of smoke and ashes chasing after hoards of people in the middle of New York City. It was a Horror Movie where one yells at the screen/characters, "Get out of there! No, don't turn back! Run!!!"
Surreal. Unimaginable. Mesmerizing. Sickening. And then came the news of the attack on the Pentagon. And then the crash in a Pennsylvania field of a plane that was also headed for Washington DC to take out either The White House or The Capital Building. Unbelievable the news was from minute-to-minute. I didn't move from the TV except to let the plumber in who looked shell-shocked but ready to do his job.
Not everyone realized the extent of the damage or the significance of what was happening - at that time. A close friend had spent the summer/early fall, in The City. He was walking through Central Park on his way home on the West Side when I called to make sure he was okay. He sounded as if he were in another land, another city. He waxed eloquent on how clear and beautiful the sky was that day. How the weather was "so perfect." How life was glorious. How happy he felt to be there. I coughed. "But…but…can't you see the smoke? Do you realize what's going on?" He said he saw "some smoke" in the distance and had heard "something" about planes hitting the towers....
By now it was at least three hours from the mayhem. Surely he couldn't be walking through NYC without noticing SOMETHING, SOMEWHERE? I growled,"The Twin Towers have collapsed. People were jumping out of the windows! How can you be so out of it when you're RIGHT THERE? Aren't you running into people who are telling you what's happening?" I wanted to strangle him for his Ignorance Is Bliss stance despite my (and another friend's attempt) to get through to his usually astute, brilliant mind, yet NOT NOW BRILLIANT, and certainly not astute, moment of Denial during his jaunty stroll. It's fine to see The Good in life, but to ignore an Act Of War on the U.S. - well, he's lucky so many of us love the guy.
At least I knew he was okay, although Living His Bliss a bit too blissfully for my taste at the moment. I simply ended the call with a warning for him to get to his temporary home ASAP and to stay off the streets. A worried friend who had dropped-by earlier, decided to stay while we watched the continuing news coverage throughout the afternoon and evening until we were too tired and horrified to see another repeat of the planes hitting the towers which ran in a loop on most channels.
The next day I returned to the office where very little work was done by all, many of us continuing to try to reach our NYC friends and business contacts we were unable to locate the previous day. Everyone was alive, but a few had lost friends. My work cohorts showed everyone in the office their ticket(s) to NY for 9/11. Although they had been planning to go in the Other Direction from whence the planes departed, all of them hold those tickets to this day as a firm reminder of how close they came to becoming a minor part of the 9/11 story had they been on an earlier flight, alighting from their plane only to find themselves shortly thereafter in the middle of Manhattan on their way to buildings near the Twin Towers.
Today we remember that day. And to all who lost their lives, once more we bid a heartfelt RIP. To The Responders who have yet to receive proper health care for the diseases their exposure to immense toxicity has wrought, may you find help at long last. If insurance companies, et al, continue to question your health conditions from 9/11, then perhaps it's time for those of us who have even a small amount of influence via our blogs, to stand up on your behalf.
For those who haven't a clue regarding to what I am referring, READ THIS
That's all she wrote on September 11, 2012.
Image via: http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk
THANK YOU for mentioning the disrespectful treatment of those who go into harm's way.
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