.:Sept 11, 2001:.

.:September 11, 2003:.


Been dreading today. It's so much easier to ignore pain when it's not everywhere you look. When you don't feel like you should call your friend whose husband died on the 86th floor while talking to their child on the phone, because you know there is nothing to be said anymore, and that the reminders might actually make the day harder for her.
It's much easier without the missing faces on the flyers that were all over NYC that day re-surfacing as a tribute. It's much easier before you realize just how many tears you can still cry for those lost friends, for the fireman who always waved when you passed the firehouse, for the nameless secretary you saw most Saturdays, when you went to the towers for a meeting, or for the waiter who was always so kind when you ate at the Windows on the World restaurant to enjoy the beautiful view.

If those memories were not enough, there are others, more recent ones, that cause just as much pain:
The world post 9/11, shortly after the attacks, when we were all united, determined to make this right, to find out what caused so much suffering, so it wouldn't ever happen again. When we had candlelight vigils that brought thousands to honor those lost, and to show the world we were all one family, no religions, no countries.

The victims were from EIGHTY different nationalities, and most religions.

It's time people stop using us to justify their acts of hate and greed against others. If anything, New Yorkers took the street to protest the war in Iraq in record numbers, we have mobilized most people in the world to join the protests, we have tried to show the world what it's like to have all races, all countries, all religions, living together in peace, here, where the towers fell, killing those close to us, in OUR backyard.

We know how much it hurts to be attacked, to lose those close to us for stupid and vicious political, religious or monetary reasons. We don't wish that on any more innocent victims, on anymore children, on anymore siblings or lovers. Their pain is the same as ours, their tears hurt just as much, their friends, houses, stores, monuments, mean just as much to them. The difference between us is nothing but real estate.

Anna Quindlen said it all in an article in Newsweek:
"The problem is ideology divorced from humanity, empty as the transparent carapace of a cicada, the living thing gone from within".

The terrorists were ignorant, hateful and fanatical people who followed their leaders without questioning. Have we been any better?

~ Taty

.:Sept 11, 2001:.

We have set ourselves to be an arts related site, but since arts are supposed to describe life, we felt the urge to relate an event that will forever change our lives and the way we see the world.
The terrorist attack that has claimed the lives of thousands of people and has forever broken to pieces our false sense of security.

We have all read about and watched with calculated distance reports on attacks around the world. We have also trusted that those incidents were limited to a few barbaric areas of the world and could never happen in a city like NY. Well, we were wrong.

It's not until you look out the window and realize that thousands of people covered in dust and wearing masks are walking down the street, that the pungent smell of smoke and rubber has creeped through the cracks on the windows and the sound of ambulances became part of the background that it really sinks in. It's not just another report, and this time we are the news.

First it is the shock of it all. Like watching a B movie of the week, but then the images of the area flash on your tv screen and the World Trade Center is missing, having been substituted by a cloud of dark smoke. Your eyes search in vain trying to catch a glimpse of the towers. You watch the replay of the plane crashes and a sense that it's a video game or a computer generated image fools you for a short lived moment. Maybe I'll wake up soon from this bizarre nightmare...

Then the realization and the weight of the reality of it all hits you like a bucket of icy cold water, literally taking your breath away. Thoughts go to all your friends, relatives, the faceless people in huge numbers who might now be gone. Memories of the stores, shows, food, smells of the World Trade Center. Phone calls to be made...

Slowly that numbness subsides and the anger takes over. CNN shows a group of Palestinians celebrating on the streets and the impulse is to say: " Blow their whole country up !", even though you don't mean it. Is that how they feel about us? What could they possibly gain? What kind of culture, history, situation, could create people willing to kill thousand, including themselves just to make a point? And you know it's a small group, you know there are great people, wise people, children who are just as repulsed as we are, but somehow the anger is still here. Their motives don't matter anymore.

It will take time to regain part of what was taken. More will be lost in the process. Compassion, peace discussions, understanding, will be forgotten and the voices of the families that lost loved ones, the lack of sense of security and the urge to get revenged will take their place.

In the end, there will be much more missing than the ever present ghost of the Twin Towers on the skyline.

~~ Taty ~~

September, 11th, 2001