73F and damp here in the swamp.
On this day, foreign terrorists murdered thousands of our citizens and allies as they went about their lives. It happens that I was only a few miles from Ground Zero working at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. It was a turning point in the national consciousness and in my own.
I still can’t talk about it without tears and anger. OFD would say that’s probably PTSD,. but if so, I’m no different from millions of others, and what millions do isn’t a disorder, it’s normal.
I remember watching the towers fall, getting every bit of cash I could out of the machines in the lobby of our venue, and heading to the grocery store. We bought a week’s worth of food, topped up the rental car gas tank, and returned to our hotel. Then I sat numb in the chair, watching the news feed on PBS, the only channel still on the air as their antenna wasn’t located on top of the World Trade Center. The only comms device that was working was my Skytel pager which allowed me to send email to friends and relatives. I carried that thing for years afterward, just on the strength of that experience.
We ended up driving toward home in our rental car. I’ll forever be grateful to Hertz for their response to the attacks. They told us “Get home safely, and let us know where you leave the car.” This is in stark contrast to the green and white company that told my co-workers that if they took the car out of state, they’d be charged with grand theft.
The murderous attack on 9/11 still is taking lives as first responders and ordinary people get sick and die from their exposures on the day.
NEVER FORGET. NEVER FORGIVE.
nick