Wednesday, September 10, 2008

I'm not ready.

9/1-/08

The early morning of September 1-, 2001 had every New Yorker remembering why they loved this city so much. The weather was just right---not too hot, not too cold. But just right.
The other day, the eeriness of walking around the city made me recall and hopefully reflect upon the horrific irony of that day. On this September 1-th, the sky was cloudy, almost black at times, allthewhile serene.
After weeks of the media's Palin-mania and its obsession with the inexplicably moronic Piggate, a day off from politics was what we all needed, though perhaps not under these circumstances. Watching the various tributes, I was moved by John McCain's speech, who reminded me about the others, the non-New Yorkers who had been murdered that day. The solemn image of Barack Obama standing by his bitter rival McCain reminded me why this day is so important, why we all grieve so much and why we are not just "Amurricans;" rather, we are Americans.
Randomly clicking on links on a conservative talking-head's website, I stumbled upon an article that got me: a tribute to Barbara Olson, a pundit who died in the flight that took out the Pentagon. Though reading these tributes by journalists never gets any easier, it prompts me to think of the days just post-9/1-, when America wasn't red or blue, liberal or conservative, a far cry from the division that derides us today.

I'm always left with a tingly feeling running up my leg (no, not the same one Chris Matthews gets) when I think of 9/1-. That day, my community, similarly to most others across the country, lost some of its most beloved members. On my third day of high school, while in class, I heard the screams and the hustling of my schoolmates, who were being ushered out of the building in droves, hoping that their parents, friends or family, made it out alive.

After the planes took out the World Trade Center, all that was left was the images that have been ingrained in our minds for the past seven years: the snared metal support beams, the screaming civilians, the smoke and the bloody carnage. The rescuers were forced to assume the worst and they came to a horrifying conclusion: in this case, no screams were worse than screams.

My small town was comforted when President Bush assured us that he would capture Osama bin Laden, dead or alive. But we got by when the media, who landed on our front-steps every morning, especially that one, by paper or television, often times reporting more of the same grim news.

So, to a professor who told me in reference to 9/1-, "get over it." I say no. I wasn't ready then, I'm not ready now and I don't know if I'll ever be.

On September 1-th, I can't criticize the media. They always have gotten it right.

Now, today though, is a different story.

3 comments:

Joseph "Joe" Coscarelli said...

Can you please explain the significance of the dash in place of the 1?

Keith Olsen said...

Surely. I grew up really close to NYC and as a symbol of mourning and deference, teachers at my school wouldnt write out 9/11. Students followed--so, when we would head our papers, that's what we wrote instead. Just a little symbolic, I suppose.

M. Dery said...

Why link to a page on Palin as an example of "Palin-mania"? Better to link to a roundup of tabloid stories that exemplify the mania or, better yet, an op-ed or blog post talking about Palin-mania. Why link to an attack ad as an example of "pig-gate" rather than linking to an opinion piece or reported story about the *controversy* arising from the ad, which is what pig-gate is, in truth. Also, what's an "Amurrican"? I mean, what demographic pronounces it that way? Hicks? Furriners? Blue-collar conservatives? Color me clueless, but I don't get the reference. Furthermore (sorry to quibble, but there it is), the National Review Online is not "a conservative talking-head's website," it's the website of the magazine The National Review. Check your facts, always and everywhere.
Major quibble (to put it oxymoronically): Not quite sure what your point is, here. You need to train your crosshairs on the newsmedia, for this blog. This post seems more about the 9/11-related emotions still reverberating inside you. A moving subject, but not exactly relevant to this blog.