8 September 2011

nine - eleven

thanks for the wishes of wellness.   still trying to understand this illness.




twenty odd years ago i was lucky enough to visit new york city.  dad had a job in Connecticut, so lucky little me tagged along.  along with the usual touristy things, statue of liberty, empire state, hard rock cafe, bloomingdales, macys etc we took a trip up to the top of the twin towers.  even back then i was scared of heights, yet i went up, and up, and up in the speedy lift.  i didnt do lifts either.

when the top was reached, i was a sad picture, putting my arms out in front of me when i slowly neared the panes of glass.  a few people including my brother slapped both hands on the glass and glared down.  my heart jumped.  i preferred to stay back.  then we went up to the viewing deck.  oh my the views, across manhattan.

like alot of people watching the 9/11 attacks, they seemed surreal.  watching a movie.  my brain wouldnt connect with the reality.  this isnt real.  this is real.  i cant imagine what those poor people went through that day.   the towers had such a presence, that day had a presence too. 

6 comments:

coffeecup said...

That skyline must look very different without those two towers. No, I don't think anyone could or would want to even try to imagine the horror those poor unfortunate people went through when the planes hit. It's still exceptionally shocking and makes me cry when I watch footage on TV. Still hard to take it in. Having been at the top and looked down, then for you Em having had that personal connection it really must difficult to comprehend them being attacked and collapsing.

Hope that you are feeling okay? xxx

diver said...

Hi Em. Excellent tooth gritted blogging. Such a haunting picture and narrative. 9/11 has blanket news coverage down here at the moment, but none of it's really 'connected' with me as your post did ... a holiday photo, a tale full of vertigo ... just a really good post, well done.

Anonymous said...

Hi Em,

Even all this time on watching it is surreal. I remember the general sense of panic even here at the time as the world really did stand still. I can't imagine what it was like for those poor souls amongst it. Watching all those documentries there is a great universal-type sadness but a sort of disconnected outside looking in too. It still is very much like a movie as you said.

It was good that you got to go there and have the memories but I can also understand it makes it all the more real and surreal for you. I just hope we never see the like of that again in our lifetime.

All the best

Nechtan

em said...

hi cc

what does this brand new world have in store for us? i would love a quieter time, something more slow and peaceful. hope your well. xxx

em said...

hi diver

aw thanks, makes me wonder after all these years watching the footage still seems unreal. maybe the brain filters out the uncomprehendable? xxx

em said...

hi nechtan

human nature is a funny thing, we could of been planted on the other side of the world and our brains would of been completely different. its not until something like this happens that life seems so fragile and on edge. x