On It was a beautiful day, the sun beat down …:
hawaii: DP’s site has a video up that fits the occassion. And I noticed all over town out here the flags are at half staff (and the base that I work on had a huge one flying at half staff). It was a nice visual reminder all day.
Whenever I vist my family in NJ I drive on a highway from which I used to be able to see the Twin Towers. Now I can see only the Empire State Building. Since I am not there that much I still notice what is missing. :(
rrgirl: isn’t there a difference between remembering, and not forgetting?
I need to sort out internal changes on my own before I can begin to find my way through the walls, weeds and words that spring up in public places. I’m not ready for organized commemorations; maybe I’ll never be ready.
thanks for the picture. having looked at it a few times today, I just realized how much it suggests, and I’m wondering what the photographer was thinking when they took the shot.Karl: Some people need the big public ceremonies. Other people prefer quiet reflection. There’s no one way to do it. All I needed to see was the flags at half-staff.
rc: i didn’t see any news coverage yesterday of the observances not out of choice but got too busy to read the paper or watch tv. just as well. seeing flags at half-staff was enough of a reminder, not that i needed one.
After I struck out looking for some 9/11 comment on tv and radio Tuesday morning I decided to avoid the news. I’m usually a news junkie, but I decided I wanted to think about 9/11 and write something for the old blog without being influenced by news or comment. After I left the house I saw flags at half-staff, and those were a strong statement. And at a park near here a field was decorated with a sea of little flags that fluttered in the breeze. As for a remembrance, that’s really all I needed.
But I did eventually read some pieces on 9/11 in the news yesterday. The one that sticks out is the following,
Widow keeps memory alive at Mets game:
“I want to celebrate Ronnie’s life,” Gies said. “He loved the Mets. On this day, I want to do something Ronnie would have enjoyed.”
What got to me are the little things. “9/11” does not evoke his absence. It’s when she can’t share a cup of coffee with him in the morning, kiss him goodbye when he leaves for work, and that they can’t go to a ball game together.
Maybe this is why I don’t need or really care for big ceremonies. I tend to look more at the little things and these strike me much more personally and much more emotionally.
We have friends in Jersey City and the view of lower Manhattan from there is wondrous. We haven’t been back since 9/11. At first I really wanted to go back for a visit. But then at a bookstore in October 2001 I saw a display of World Trade Center tomes and seeing the cover a coffee table book with a photo of the towers — intact, the way they were meant to be — brought me to tears. So I knew it wasn’t time. Maybe it’s time now.
Although searching for World Trade Center images for my post the other day made me teary. If you google “world trade center towers” images you get a lot of photos of the towers on 9/11. I have a very good memory and I remember far too well what the towers looked like on that day. Six years later I can see — in my mind — the first tower falling.
Which is why I picked that image for yesterday’s post. I like it a lot, too, rrgirl.
