This year marks the 20th anniversary of the 9\/11 attacks in New York. The remembrance ceremony is broadcast live every year on the major TV networks.<\/p>\n
Each year I plan to follow the live telecast in its entirety, but I can only bring myself to watch a few minutes of the ceremony before I switch the TV off \u2013 the telecast simply evokes and amplifies too many painful memories. In feeling this way, I can only assume I am not unlike many others who were here in New York on that sad and tragic day.<\/p>\n
I can still clearly recall the roar of the engines of the 767 as it flew low and fast overhead heading towards the southern tip of Manhattan. I remember the sense of unease and confusion when the early morning television news reported the first crash. The news reporter got it wrong initially \u2013 they speculated that a light aircraft had accidentally hit the North tower. <\/p>\n
When it became clear after the second crash that something horrible beyond imagination had happened, I remember feeling sick in the pit of my stomach.<\/p>\n
Some of us react to emotional trauma by clinging to our daily routines, and I remember heading unthinkingly to my office at the UN on that clear September morning. And I recall the sombre mood of everyone in that subway carriage on the B train to the Bryant Park subway stop \u2013 we were all visibly shaken and distraught. <\/p>\n
When I exited the stop at Bryant Park, I remember joining the crowd of people milling around and staring anxiously down 6th Avenue at the huge dark plumes of smoke billowing into the crystal clear sky. I remember the scene was too much for me to bear and I had to quickly avert my eyes.<\/p>\n
I remember the courage and bravery of those first responders. And I remember the grief stricken desperately searching for their loved ones with a flood of flyers that appeared virtually overnight around the city<\/p>\n
I remember the transformation of Union Square as New Yorkers converged there in droves to grieve. I remember how our planned visit ended abruptly because we turned home a block away from Union Square when we were overwhelmed by the raw emotion of the moment.<\/p>\n
And I remember we all asked “Why?”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the 9\/11 attacks in New York. The remembrance ceremony is broadcast live every year on the major TV networks. Each year I plan to follow the live telecast in its entirety, but I can only bring myself to watch a few minutes of the ceremony before I switch …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-york-tales"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emagines.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emagines.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emagines.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emagines.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emagines.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=603"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/emagines.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":605,"href":"https:\/\/emagines.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603\/revisions\/605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emagines.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emagines.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emagines.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}