nmah6439.xml

nmah6439.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2004-02-13

I live in Marine Park, Brooklyn. I'd just gotten home from dropping my kids off at school. A friend called and told me a plane hit one of the WTC towers. I prayed, then called a couple of other friends and told them to pray. I turned on the news and saw the second plane hit. I went right back out to get my kids. I felt a compulsion to assemble all my loved-ones at home so that we could face this threat together. Being separated from each other made the situation seem more horrible. I arrived at the grade-school just before crowds of parents swarmed in, got my boy and ran to the pre-school. There too, I was one of the first parents to arrive. I was tremendously relieved to have both my boys with me. Back at home, while I watched the news, throughout the day I got in touch with my husband, my family and close friends who were at work or in transit. I served as a central clearinghouse for communication. As I located people and put them in touch with each other I had a growing sense of order and usefulness that kept me from dwelling on the fear, confusion and helpless that was all around. I have a lot of sensory memories from that day... outside my door the flying paper glinting high in the perfect blue sky, the lumps of gray death ash all over the street, then the dark cloud overhead with its acrid smell, on TV the impact, the fire, the horror on the faces of the witnesses, the desperate faces at the windows, the falling bodies, the ash-covered displaced people walking miles, the sacrificed rescue workers, the lack of survivors... it was all so horrendous. Later, the candles, the vigils, the flags everywhere like bandaids on our wounds, the widows and orphans, the funerals, the grief in my neighborhood and all over. Just horrible.

I feel a sense of dread when my husband leaves to go to work in Manhattan; My family now has better strategies for being in touch and reuniting quickly in the event of a terrorist attack or natural disaster; I do not patronize businesses that did not fly the American flag immediately after the tragedy. I don't feel at ease in neighborhoods where the vast majority of homes and businesses did not fly the flag; We do not plan to travel out of the country, or to fly unneccesarily. We take road trips.

It was admirable how New Yorkers pulled together. I will never forget the love and assistance we, the grateful living, gave each other. As the story unfolded and we learned that our attackers were Arab Moslems, we did not harrass those in our midst and corral them into detainment camps. We behaved in a decent and civilized way. It makes me proud to be American.

I did not fly my flag much before 9/11. I thought it was something veterans and government buildings did. I flew my flag every day after 9/11 until I took it in recently because of the harshness of this winter (2004). I will fly it again in the spring. I have a red, white & blue, and a yellow bow on my door. I want to show allegiance, solidarity and respect.