Monday, September 11, 2006
1:28 PM

It's September 11th, and if you know me, you know that I was born and raised in New York, and was there visiting when the attacks took place five years ago.

I know there is a general feeling of "get over it", and I *do* understand that (and hate the way the media is exploiting this for ratings) but for me, that won't happen.

I grew up spending a lot of time in the city. As you spend more time in the city, and get comfortable with being in Manhattan, you begin to feel this huge sense of safety- the buildings are so high and all over, every street is basically guarded on every side by buildings that are supposed to stand the test of time, and abuse. There are so many people, it's a world onto itself. You start believing because you are so small, and sort of "lost" within the sea of people and concrete, you'll never get hurt.

All that changed on September 11th. Not only did two of the buildings fall, but two of the largest and most populated in the city. In addition to that, the entire landscape of New York changed. Anyone who grew up looking at the NY skyline, even just occasionally, was overpowered by the incredible gap left in the view. It was like NYC's two front teeth were viciously knocked out. You can never look at the face of the city and NOT notice it.

And all the lives... more than the population of the island I live on right now. In just a few minutes, all of that history and life wiped away... every single one of them leaving people behind.

I think that even though I don't live in NY anymore, I'll always be a New Yorker at heart. And because the city is such a huge part of anyone who lives near it, you never get over that feeling you had when you found out that the World Trade Center was gone. Just... gone. If they could be wiped out, anything could.

So it's hard for me to watch the footage and read the news and not remember how I felt five years ago. Scared, amazed, wounded, and waiting for the rest of NY to fall down. It's been five years, but I'm still waiting to read the news and find out it's happened again.

Anything is possible now- good and bad. I'm trying to focus on the good, as a tribute to all those who fell. But I'll never forget them.

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comments:

One of the authors that I love, Lawrence Block, wrote a book called Small Town. It takes place in Manhattan, after 9/11, about a man who lost his son and his wife on 9/11. And in the book, he talks about, the towers and the amazing impact of their absence - the shock of NOT seeing the towers.

I can't "get over it" either, and I wasn't there that day.

Hugs ((()))
Gretchen

Posted by GW @ September 11, 2006 02:19 PM

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