Attack on the World Trade Center
One week later
Prelude
Amsterdam Schiphol Airport
16th September 2001
A silent camaraderie surrounds those of us
boarding the first plane to New York
since the attack.
For six days we could not cross the Atlantic.
There were very few flights
and seats were scarce.
At 5:30 in the morning 200 apprehensive passengers line up
to check in at silent and empty Schiphol
for Singapore’s 8 a.m. flight to Newark
with an odd mixture of joviality and a sense of
meeting with destiny.
Despite the massive television coverage
we are uncertain about what we’ll find on the other side -
we watch every passenger of colour
have their bags extensively checked
by security.
-----
Letter from New York – 18th September 2001
Midtown Manhattan
Few things are more beautiful
than New York on a nice day.
The sun is shining and the air is
warm and clear
except for the column of smoke and dust that
rises stubbornly from downtown
visible even a week after the attack
and four miles away.
In midtown, people are trying to
return to normal
which is an act of defiance that
says we will not be defeated.
The traffic on Eighth Avenue is much quieter than normal
no cars are honking – which is eerie in New York.
There is also the quiet that comes from
the deep sadness that sticks
to everything and everyone
and there is
the quiet that comes from fear.
For the last two days
I have been the only person eating breakfast
in the large and silent restaurant
at the Howard Johnson's Hotel
on 8th Avenue and 51st Street.
I am almost the only guest in the hotel.
5400 people are missing
218 are confirmed to be dead in New York
179 people have been rescued but
not a single one has been found alive
in the last six days.
The television reports that there must soon be
the painful decision of whether and when
to change from a "rescue and cleanup operation"
to the much swifter
just "cleanup operation".
That is, to declare the missing to be dead
to give up hope.
The rescue workers - thousands strong
are valiant and none wants to
quit working around the clock.
The restaurants have joined together
to cater food to the rescuers.
They are serving 20,000 meals every day.
Though 50,000 tons have already been removed
the mountain of debris is hardly smaller.
Rescue workers have trod gently – using dogs
to sniff out signs of life.
Hope centers
on “voids” in the rubble where people might survive.
The fire department has allowed fires in the wreckage to burn unchecked,
for fear that water would drown trapped survivors.
But the mayor and his aides
– as though trying to break the news gently –
are frequently on television with ever more pessimistic messages
about the possibility of finding survivors.
Stories of courage abound
about the hundreds of unsung heroes:
the cripple who was carried by his co-workers
down 77 flights of stairs
the firemen – 300 of them have been lost –
who rushed back uptown to handle normal fires
in the midst of the crisis.
Today’s NY Times editorial praised the teachers
who evacuated 8000 children from nearby schools,
walking through smoke and chaos,
without sustaining a single serious injury.
One school is so close to the towers
that it was damaged by fiery debris
and teachers led terrified students
many of whose parents worked in the towers
through falling rubble and smoke
to safety in Greenwich Village
a mile away.
And everywhere on the streets
there are homemade notices posted on walls
by relatives searching for the missing.
HAVE YOU SEEN JULIO GONZALES?
AGE 27 – WORKED AT BROWN AND WOOD, 87TH FLOOR.
People have placed
high piles of flowers
in front of fire and police stations
to show their gratitude.
On some street corners
people have spontaneously created memorials
laying flowers and candles and photos
on tables.
People applaud as rescue workers walk by.
On the subway platforms
the city has stationed many transit workers
who wear bright red vests
to guide people
through the system that changes
as every day different stations downtown are open
or closed. When you ask directions
people are elaborate in their
kindness and want to
walk with you until you reach
your train.
There are lots of trains
they are clean and not crowded
but if the train you are in
stops unexpectedly in the tunnel
near World Trade Center
you can’t help but wonder whether
that tunnel might collapse and everyone
becomes very quiet.
One New Yorker told me that
now people jump, startled by ANY loud noise or siren.
That’s what terrorism does.
Mayor Giuliani , scorned for years as a tyrant
is the calm hero of the day.
Many who hated him till last Tuesday
now want to cancel the mayoral election in which he cannot participate
due to term limits
and let him stay on as mayor for another year.
--
Downtown - lower Manhattan - is very different from midtown.
There is no “normalcy” here.
Thousands cannot go back to their homes.
My dear friends Bill and Peter
watched from their 12th-floor roof garden in Tribeca
and saw people leaping from the towers.
They saw the cloud of dust 6-storeys high approach – but not reach –
their apartment building which is
now uninhabitable due to
lack of electricity, water, gas and phone service
and due to an abundance of
foul air. They have left and taken refuge
with friends a hundred miles away in the country.
The stock exchanges on Wall Street have reopened.
Office workers fill the narrow streets.
They show ID to get past police barricades to their offices
and they wear surgical facemasks to protect them
from the thick haze of dust that
still is in the air and that has whitened the buildings.
Skyscrapers that normally house tens of thousands of workers -
Marine Midland Plaza, 140 Broadway, Chase Manhattan Plaza,
appear to be entirely abandoned.
30 older buildings around the World Trade Center
have been structurally “compromised”
and are empty.
Dozens of surrounding stores
and hundreds of offices
have been closed.
Soldiers line the streets
and you can’t get closer than two blocks
from where the world trade towers stood
but you can see the 5-story, white, curvy shards
that still stick up like a haunted forest
in the ghostly mist of dust.
A city of the dead.
You can see them
but not without shedding a tear.
Downtown you realize
that this was an act of war.
Downtown you see
that a monstrous thing has occurred
that cannot be forgotten
and will not be forgiven.
Downtown you can understand
the anger and desire for revenge
that live together with the sadness.
And life will go on. It always does.
But the return to normalcy will cover a
deep wound.
…………………..
Bob Bragar
September 18, 2001
All Rights Reserved
Robert Bragar 2011
Prelude
Amsterdam Schiphol Airport
16th September 2001
A silent camaraderie surrounds those of us
boarding the first plane to New York
since the attack.
For six days we could not cross the Atlantic.
There were very few flights
and seats were scarce.
At 5:30 in the morning 200 apprehensive passengers line up
to check in at silent and empty Schiphol
for Singapore’s 8 a.m. flight to Newark
with an odd mixture of joviality and a sense of
meeting with destiny.
Despite the massive television coverage
we are uncertain about what we’ll find on the other side -
we watch every passenger of colour
have their bags extensively checked
by security.
-----
Letter from New York – 18th September 2001
Midtown Manhattan
Few things are more beautiful
than New York on a nice day.
The sun is shining and the air is
warm and clear
except for the column of smoke and dust that
rises stubbornly from downtown
visible even a week after the attack
and four miles away.
In midtown, people are trying to
return to normal
which is an act of defiance that
says we will not be defeated.
The traffic on Eighth Avenue is much quieter than normal
no cars are honking – which is eerie in New York.
There is also the quiet that comes from
the deep sadness that sticks
to everything and everyone
and there is
the quiet that comes from fear.
For the last two days
I have been the only person eating breakfast
in the large and silent restaurant
at the Howard Johnson's Hotel
on 8th Avenue and 51st Street.
I am almost the only guest in the hotel.
5400 people are missing
218 are confirmed to be dead in New York
179 people have been rescued but
not a single one has been found alive
in the last six days.
The television reports that there must soon be
the painful decision of whether and when
to change from a "rescue and cleanup operation"
to the much swifter
just "cleanup operation".
That is, to declare the missing to be dead
to give up hope.
The rescue workers - thousands strong
are valiant and none wants to
quit working around the clock.
The restaurants have joined together
to cater food to the rescuers.
They are serving 20,000 meals every day.
Though 50,000 tons have already been removed
the mountain of debris is hardly smaller.
Rescue workers have trod gently – using dogs
to sniff out signs of life.
Hope centers
on “voids” in the rubble where people might survive.
The fire department has allowed fires in the wreckage to burn unchecked,
for fear that water would drown trapped survivors.
But the mayor and his aides
– as though trying to break the news gently –
are frequently on television with ever more pessimistic messages
about the possibility of finding survivors.
Stories of courage abound
about the hundreds of unsung heroes:
the cripple who was carried by his co-workers
down 77 flights of stairs
the firemen – 300 of them have been lost –
who rushed back uptown to handle normal fires
in the midst of the crisis.
Today’s NY Times editorial praised the teachers
who evacuated 8000 children from nearby schools,
walking through smoke and chaos,
without sustaining a single serious injury.
One school is so close to the towers
that it was damaged by fiery debris
and teachers led terrified students
many of whose parents worked in the towers
through falling rubble and smoke
to safety in Greenwich Village
a mile away.
And everywhere on the streets
there are homemade notices posted on walls
by relatives searching for the missing.
HAVE YOU SEEN JULIO GONZALES?
AGE 27 – WORKED AT BROWN AND WOOD, 87TH FLOOR.
People have placed
high piles of flowers
in front of fire and police stations
to show their gratitude.
On some street corners
people have spontaneously created memorials
laying flowers and candles and photos
on tables.
People applaud as rescue workers walk by.
On the subway platforms
the city has stationed many transit workers
who wear bright red vests
to guide people
through the system that changes
as every day different stations downtown are open
or closed. When you ask directions
people are elaborate in their
kindness and want to
walk with you until you reach
your train.
There are lots of trains
they are clean and not crowded
but if the train you are in
stops unexpectedly in the tunnel
near World Trade Center
you can’t help but wonder whether
that tunnel might collapse and everyone
becomes very quiet.
One New Yorker told me that
now people jump, startled by ANY loud noise or siren.
That’s what terrorism does.
Mayor Giuliani , scorned for years as a tyrant
is the calm hero of the day.
Many who hated him till last Tuesday
now want to cancel the mayoral election in which he cannot participate
due to term limits
and let him stay on as mayor for another year.
--
Downtown - lower Manhattan - is very different from midtown.
There is no “normalcy” here.
Thousands cannot go back to their homes.
My dear friends Bill and Peter
watched from their 12th-floor roof garden in Tribeca
and saw people leaping from the towers.
They saw the cloud of dust 6-storeys high approach – but not reach –
their apartment building which is
now uninhabitable due to
lack of electricity, water, gas and phone service
and due to an abundance of
foul air. They have left and taken refuge
with friends a hundred miles away in the country.
The stock exchanges on Wall Street have reopened.
Office workers fill the narrow streets.
They show ID to get past police barricades to their offices
and they wear surgical facemasks to protect them
from the thick haze of dust that
still is in the air and that has whitened the buildings.
Skyscrapers that normally house tens of thousands of workers -
Marine Midland Plaza, 140 Broadway, Chase Manhattan Plaza,
appear to be entirely abandoned.
30 older buildings around the World Trade Center
have been structurally “compromised”
and are empty.
Dozens of surrounding stores
and hundreds of offices
have been closed.
Soldiers line the streets
and you can’t get closer than two blocks
from where the world trade towers stood
but you can see the 5-story, white, curvy shards
that still stick up like a haunted forest
in the ghostly mist of dust.
A city of the dead.
You can see them
but not without shedding a tear.
Downtown you realize
that this was an act of war.
Downtown you see
that a monstrous thing has occurred
that cannot be forgotten
and will not be forgiven.
Downtown you can understand
the anger and desire for revenge
that live together with the sadness.
And life will go on. It always does.
But the return to normalcy will cover a
deep wound.
…………………..
Bob Bragar
September 18, 2001
All Rights Reserved
Robert Bragar 2011
posted by Unknown at 8:18 PM
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