Remembering 9/11
by LauraLoo
It’s hard to believe we’ve reached the 11th anniversary of one of the most tragic days in U.S. history, the loss of almost 3,000 precious souls due to 9/11/2001.
Video #1 was taken from a high rise near the collapse of the World Trade Center towers. A unique perspective from a family who felt it was important to document what happened that tragic day in U.S. history.
WARNINGS:
1) Name of God is said multiple times due to the tremendous loss of life.
2) Not suitable for children or very sensitive adults.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNNTcHq5Tzk[/youtube]
Video #2 is the one-hour eleven minute heartbreaking 9/11 documentary which centers around one photographer’s search to identify “the falling man.” Other people discuss their final conversations with their loved ones who were trapped inside the WTC.
WARNING: This documentary is controversial in nature as some feel those who leapt to their death should not have been photographed, that their decisions to leap should have remained sacred and private. This documentary is extremely difficult to watch, with some adult language. Content may not be suitable for anyone who is extremely sensitive or who lost loved ones in 9/11.
On a brighter note, currently under construction (due to be completed by the 12th anniversary) is the One World Trade Center, or Freedom Tower. Here is a montage of photos related to the past 11 years of Ground Zero.
Email dailyvid@jillstanek.com with your video suggestions.
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
Here are two very interesting and informative articles on the classification/order of the names at the memorial. The algorithm used is extremely complex and, IMO, unexpectedly appropriate. The names are sorted by “connections” to each other. People who worked together, people who never met each other before but who died together, and all other kinds of connections. ie, two brothers, both firefighters, are placed near both each other and near their company members – one ending the list of the dead in his company, one immediately following, beginning the list in his. etc. It seems nearly impossible to decide whose name to put where, based on that kind of criteria, but a media design firm found a way.
Overview: http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2011/05/16/110516ta_talk_paumgarten
More in-depth: http://www.fastcodesign.com/1663780/at-911-memorial-name-placements-reflect-bonds-between-victims-thanks-to-algorithm
You can see the names, and the names they are placed near, here: http://names.911memorial.org/
I know that I have found an inexplicable sense of meaning and comfort in seeing the names of my loved ones permanently etched next to the names of those who meant something in their lives, or even in their deaths.
During 9/11 I found another ‘hero’, who has given me so much! Her name is Heidi (at least this was her moniker on the web site). We who visited frequently, had affectionately (and appropriately) nick-named her ‘Mom’ even though she was a decade younger than me. She was a NY’er who lived and blogged a few blocks from the WTC.
That ‘day’ was most strange. It all started and then she wrote that she had to help. So before she knew what was going-to-happen [ie.collapse of the towers], she excused herself and walked down the street. She has been my hero since!
We in PL-land often use the word ‘precious’ to describe human-life. Perhaps, many PC’ers have never experienced this kind of witnessing, so do not believe it exists. As I found out later, there were many NY’ers that made this trip. God bless ’em! So magnificent a small-gesture was her witness that my life is precious even in the midst of people trying to kill me (literally).
Thanks Mom!
My condolences to everyone who lost someone in this tragic event.
RIP
My condolences too. May your family and friends rest in peace. May we never forget 9/11/01
Ditto, Tyler & Prolifer L. Watching this is such a reminder to never complain about anything – shame on me!! Life is so precious and sacred. The daughter talking about her dad not being the falling man due to the suicide issue and his soul being damned. Tyler, correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t the Church teach that we should trust in the mercy of God because only God knows a person’s state of mind, emotional, psychological, etc.
May all those that died that day rest in peace and may God bring comfort and peace to all their loved ones. We will never forget.
I was surprised they didn’t even mention this at my daughter’s school today. No moment of silence, no nothing. Any other parents dismayed about this? We had a big long talk with the kids about what happened on this day yesterday AND today.
Hey, xalisae – that does surprise me a little bit. I have noticed significantly less coverage now that we are past the big “one decade” milestone and I’m not sure how I feel about that. Mostly I feel kind of relieved because it’s exhausting being reminded and going through it all again, year after year. But I do think that schools should talk about it, because it is definitely something kids should learn about and know about, especially since it still directly affects our lives today.
On that subject, here is some kind of crappy footage of NBC opting to skip the moment of silence in favor of a Kardashian interview, contrasted with the footage on the other networks: http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/nbcs-today-skips-911-moment-of-silence-for-kardashian-interview_b145281
On the other hand, here is some lighthearted footage from a construction worker building the “Freedom Tower.” The first video (language warning) is of the installation of one of the window panels, and the second video is of one of his co-workers dancing the robot on a quick break – the second one has a nice panoramic sweep of lower Manhattan towards the end of it. Still one of the best views out there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0GjrA6f2CA&
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xedDscOi8Gc&
Finally, here are some amazing pictures of the construction at Ground Zero: http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/09/one-world-trade-center-construction-progress/100367/
I thought that I had shared this last year, but maybe not. Some of you may remember me telling the story, in previous years, of my childhood friend who died, who turned out to have saved several people’s lives. ESPN did a small story on him last year, for the 10-year anniversary, since he was a lacrosse player in his college years. espn.go.com/video/clip?id=6929979
But this year I want to talk about someone else I knew, who died that same day. He was the brother of a colleague of mine and he had married his high school sweetheart – they had actually attended my high school, though a few years earlier, and when I was in high school I had teachers who still remembered the young couple and their overwhelming devotion to each other. And in September 2001, his wife was pregnant with their first child, nearly full-term. I remember the unique heartache of his memorial service – there were “services,” not funerals, mostly, because there were no bodies, not yet – with his shell-shocked wife, stunned to find herself alone after more than a decade of being half of a pair, alone for the very thing they had planned on being together for, all those years. It was awful. The world seemed made of horror and cruelty.
She went into labor early that November, and as she waited – alone, for the moment – for things to really get started, she flipped through the standard office copy of the New York Times, to pass the time, to distract herself from all the things that felt sad on what should have been a happy day. I don’t know if anyone else remembers this, but for some time the NYT ran profiles of those who died, different people every day. And that day, they randomly chose to run a profile on her husband. And so, sitting there waiting, waiting for the baby to come into – and help create – this new, broken little family of two, she opened the paper to see a picture of her husband smiling back at her.
Last September their daughter was very excited about her upcoming double-digit birthday. Truth be told, she is so much her own rambunctious little person that it’s hard for me to remember anything else – to connect her with the overwhelming sadness and heartbreak of that day, those months, those years. And I don’t remember what it was, but at some point one day last year something struck me and I simply looked at her and thought, “I was at your father’s funeral.” I wished, for a moment, that she could have been there, could have seen how loved he was. How people ached for him. How people laughed through their tears even then, remembering stories about him. “I was at your father’s funeral,” I thought to myself as I glanced at her;
and then I heard, as clearly as though she’d said it herself, “So was I.” And she was.
Alexandra, thank you for sharing your memories and I’m sorry for your painful losses.
A
Great narrative. Thanks for sharing it.
I do not believe the majority of falling people actually leaped. Some did. But I think many were just crowding at the windows gasping for air and were knocked out or in the blind rush fell out by accident. The one man I always think of is the man in a business suit trying to save himself by crawling down the side of the tower. Can you even imagine? 1,000 feet up and falling to your quick but painful death? It never ceases to bring tears to my eyes just thinking on it. Those poor, poor people!
Xalisae, that does surprise me. They even mentioned it to my son’s kindergarten class!
I live near Philly. I’m sure Phillymiss remembers this…but a couple days after 9/11 a huge acrid cloud of smoke and ash passed over us. It was so eerie watching it slowly waft by in the sky. It left powdery residue on the streets and cars. My mother-in-law wondered how many victims incinerated remains were in that ash. I felt like I was part of a funeral wiping it from my car.
I will never ever ever ever forget that day. I had family in Manhattan. Years later my brother who was a Marine worked in the Pentagon near where the plane hit. Such an eerie thought.
Sydney,
There was no cloud up here in Bucks County, but I remember on a trip to South Jersey we saw the pillar of smoke. It must have been Friday, because we were listening to Bush’s magnificent speech on the radio.
That Tuesday will always be our other Day of Infamy.
x,
I was so happy to hear that at my daughter’s high school an assembly was put on and some firefighters talked about that historic/horrific day, as well as a moment of silence being observed. My younger ones at the elementary school also talked about 9/11. Still waiting on my junior high schooler and what the verdict was there!
@Alexandra,
What a beautiful story. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, guys.
Hans, you’re in Bucks County? I try to take periodic “long weekends” out that way! Small world.
Hi Hans, I live in chester county. Maybe direction of the wind? It is certainly the Pearl Harbor of our generation.
Alexandra, I would like to thank you for sharing these stories with us. I also offer my condolences for the losses you have experienced.
That was bittersweet, Alexandra. I wept. Thank you for sharing that.
Alexandra,
Thank you. You have a way with words girl!!
Never forget.
Hi folks,
For most of you, I am a ‘newbie’ here. I made a ‘discovery’ today, after reading this thread. Most of you guys have (in your own way), said YES to life and embraced an uncertain future. [Trusting ………………. ] In some way you too have ‘walked down the street’ to a disaster unfolding…. our nation legalizing abortion.
In the very beginning of this site {before the ‘mods’}, it seemed like Jill and I were playing catch. [She was the ‘pitcher’ (posting ideas) and I seemed all-alone as the ‘catcher’ (answering her).] I doubt very much, that if it wasn’t for God’s help, we would have given-up, years ago! In truth, we were both a little perplexed about what-to-say to PL AND PC (before there was such designation).
Life has huge twists and turns. Any questioning as to outcome (need-for-control) is a disservice in a world filled with unexpected events. By aborting our children, we believe we are increasing control … not so! We are just introducing and fomenting a pattern of distrust.