A little ditty encapsulating the uncertainty following the September 11th attacks.
New York would become a fortress city, choked by apprehension and resignation, forever patrolled by soldiers and submarines. Another attack was coming. And soon.
Tourists? Well, who would ever come again? Work in one of the city’s skyscrapers? Not likely. The Fire Department, gutted by 343 deaths, could never recuperate.
If a crippled downtown Manhattan were to have any chance of regeneration, ground zero had to be rebuilt quickly, a bricks and mortar nose-thumbing to terror.
I'm not gonna tell much of my story, because I had a very ho-hum one compared to others, especially those of some of my good childhood friends attending a rival high school basically across the street from the falling towers. And everyone was affected by the 9/11 in some minor way and at the very least remember exactly where they were when they heard the news. My experience had an unrelated personal twist that is making it all the more bitter tasting, but I made it out without losing anyone I knew particularly well. I got home...eventually, after walking what I think was about 100 blocks with some stops in between to get someplace to sleep. It was a clear day with good visibility, so you couldn't miss the pillar of smoke. I got home the next day eventually, going to Brooklyn and getting picked up there. Like I said, I couldn't complain much. But I do remember the next day, when I got on an express bus and asked the bus driver if I could use my student metrocard and a token to get to manhattan, because ferry service was suspended, and he said..."no...but just get on, I guess you got no other way of getting to school" that I started to tear up and I walked to my seat.
It was a weird feeling as I said about the article before, uncertainty. I was just scared because, well, wtf. What is going on exactly?
The US was not used to random acts of terrorism or violence, at least not with the use of anything resembling bombs and destruction on city streets. Arguably my generation had been living some damn peaceful times, with no major war to speak of that affected the homeland.
I should probably flesh this out, but I don't wanna be a cheesy downer. :-) I just wanted to post something since I read this article and was reminded of how powerful just not knowing what's next is.
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