By Alex Berger
Everyone should make Sept. 11 a day of remembrance
On Dec. 20, 200l, President George W. Bush signed legislation signifying Sept. 11 as “Patriot Day” and ordering flags lowered to half-staff to honor those killed in the terror attacks.
The World Trade Center attack killed 2,752 innocent American civilians, more than the Pentagon attack and downed plane in Pennsylvania.
Who among us will forget where we were and what we were doing that morning at 8:48 a.m.? I was typing a column when I heard Gloria scream, “A plane just crashed into the World Trade Center.”
Deep in thought at the time, I paid little attention. But when Gloria yelled that a second plane had crashed into the other tower, I jumped out of my seat and dashed to the television set.
I could not believe my eyes. The destruction and carnage were indescribable. I kept thinking it was all a bad dream, but it wasn't. The World Trade Center that Gloria and I had visited over the years to shop, schmooze and admire disappeared.
Praising what is lost makes the remembrance dear. — William Shakespeare
This calamity affected everybody. Husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, children, friends, firemen and policemen who were never going to return home that night. Acrid smoke and dust clouded and colored nearby neighborhoods for weeks.
Many stories abounded by and about the increasing number of victims. One came from the captain of the main dining room at the Windows on the World, the restaurant atop the North Tower.
“For some reason,” he noted, “the night before the attack, the breakfast function was downsized. I called 12 of my employees not to report to work on the following day [Sept. 11]. Unfortunately, 43 others reported and lost their lives.”
Dick and Roz, close friends of mine, lost their 31-year-old son. Rather than react with hate and anger, they went to church and prayed for peace. Judith, my nephew's wife, was working in one of the towers when the first plane struck. Her supervisor advised all employees to remain calm and stay at their positions. Judith and a few fellow employees disregarded the plea and walked down the many stairs to safety. The supervisor and the others perished.
Wells Crowther, the 24-year-old “man in the red bandana,” led dozens to safety on the 78th floor before he died in the collapsing building. (Why hasn't Hollywood depicted his extraordinary act of heroism?)
Maria was in the World Trade Center the moment the planes struck. She saw people, frantic with fright, jumping from upper windows. Maria returned home physically unharmed and was able to suppress the searing memories for a few months. The enormity of the tragedy, however, caused her to suffer a mental breakdown. Maria is still being treated for her condition.
As for me, to this day I find it difficult to write a humorous column.
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum/Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come. — W.H. Auden
At the time, America drew strength from sharing the grief, and in doing so lifted each other's morale. For the briefest of moments, this sense of family, as a nation, ran deeper than the gaping holes that scarred the soil of New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania.
Not since Pearl Harbor had the nation felt compelled to pull together. But rather than hold fast to that common purpose, these bonds of fraternal feeling soon dissipated.
It has become apparent that many Americans have developed cases of “short memory-itis” and have forgotten to remember. The tragedy of the Sept. 11 attacks has faded.
“Life goes on,” they say. True, but not for the many who lost loved ones. Regrettably, 9/ll has gone the way of the Alamo, the “Maine” and Pearl Harbor: disposed of into the bin of lost memories.
I grieve for those who lost their lives in the trade center maelstrom, from the heroes who charged into the towering inferno to meet certain death and those dying from other related reasons thereafter to the ordinary souls who had the misfortune of making it to work on time. This attack on America should be remembered for teaching the value of life and how perishable and fleeting it is.
These [hearts] had seen movement, and heard music known …. Touched flowers and furs and cheeks; All this is ended. — Rupert Brooke
Sept. 11, 2008, should be a day set aside for attending church, synagogue, temple, mosque or just sitting on a park bench for self-contemplation. Seven years have since passed. Let us all recall Sept. 11, 2001.
Contact Alex Berger at news@timesledger.com.
