by On the fourth anniversary of 9/11 I would like to direct you to an article I wrote for GO INSIDE Magazine a year after the world fell called Celebrate the Dead, Mourn the Living:
….We all were breathing and smelling the fiery ashes of 2,800 corpses as their flesh filled the sky. It is a smell you will never forget. When you cannot escape the evidence of murder as it fills your lungs every day you turn inward to memorialize the reality in a positive manner so the horror of it all won’t eat you alive in the quiet times.
I decided inhaling the ashes of those who died was a way of reanimating each of them by giving them life within me. By drinking in the bits of them blowing in the wind, I became greater than myself, bound by their hopes and sobered by their dreams, and I was making all those strangers a part of me….
You can read the rest of the article here and then come back here to share your feelings and memories of 9/11 if you wish.
You can read all the GO INSIDE Magazine coverage of the first anniversary here where you will find some moving and memorable takes on the events of infamy from the rest of the staff.
I live in Queens. I watched the whole thing from the street, too. I had three friends in there who came tumbling down. I don’t talk about it much, either.
Hi Karmeel —
Thank you for your thoughtful post. It was strange to hear stories of people in our area who saw it happen on television and then ran out into the street to watch it with their own eyes.
Some of my friends did both from their apartments: They watched it on TV and live out their windows at the same time. Completely surreal.
Not many people around here want to discuss 9/11. It’s still too painful and raw to talk about out loud.
Wow, what an excellent commentary. Being in SC, we only caught our glimpses of what happened on TV. I can’t even begin to imagine what it must have been like to see the horror unfold with your own eyes.
However, I do remember the fear of that day – watching the sky before the planes were grounded, wondering who was next, trying to work but going to the computers of coworkers who had Internet access to see what the latest development was, pausing in the break room when I passed through to watch the TV that someone bought at the Wal-Mart across the street on her lunch break.
That’s what I remember of that day, but I know it’s nothing compared to what was experienced in NYC and DC.
Thanks for sharing with us.
Hey Carla —
Thanks for sharing your experience that day. It was frightening for everyone everywhere just as you so rightly suggest.
We will be hit again. My guess would be Los Angeles is a prime target for some kind of infectious agent, not a bombing. Lots of stars. Lots of drama. Lots of big stories. I hope it doesn’t happen but a big strike like that would get worldwide headlines: Which star is dead? Which stars lived? It would get a lot of play.
There’s a big 9/11 remembrance going on all morning here on all the television stations as selected family members read the names of the dead. I find it incredibly tasteless when the people reading the names get to their family member and give a “shout out” to how great their dead person is and then they hold up a photo. Claiming “my dead is more important than your dead†is unfortunate.
i saw the same thing with all the roll call names and it hit me wrong like it hit you the people who had the honor of reading the names should’ve given each one the same inflection and meaning.
Hi soos!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the television coverage. I’m certain those in charge of the event had no idea those tasteless “shout outs” would be a part of the presentation and once one family did it every other family had the green light to pile on why their death was more special than the other dead.