9/11: A Difficult Day to Re-live

I witnessed the tragic event live from the 23rd floor of the building I worked in. It was at an angle where we clearly saw the gaping hole in the first tower; the fire, the suffocating smoke, the papers flying out, the glistening glass pieces falling and eventually people jumping out. It was brutal and I never watch tv around this time for rekindling the hurt, the sorrow and the horror I witnessed first hand. It was a day where all you heard was police sirens, sirens of Fire trucks and then complete pin-drop silence.... That's when the towers fell. People were dumbstruck, confused, dazed by what had happened. For days we were silent and just let our tears speak.....

There were familiar faces one would see everyday while going to work. Even though one would never communicate, the silent nod and smile would convey tons. But many of those familiar faces were gone after 9/11. For days and months one heard stories of search, rescue, loss, and then burial in absentia. For a year we went to funerals that were held by grieved family and friends who eventually gave up the hopes of finding their loved ones alive or in one piece after a full year, the hardest thing to do.

I used to go to ground zero and just watch the ruins, trying to make sense of why this modern day barbarism could happen. I read messages scribbled by people on the scaffold-wall at ground zero which served as a temporary memorial. I read messages of Hope and grief chalked on the ground in the nearby Union Square Park which was serving as another memorial and a place where flocks of people posted pictures of loved ones with contact numbers. The park was very crowded....I saw people frantically searching for loved ones in all the hospitals, hospices, friends' homes hoping to find their loved one injured but alive. I heard stories from people narrating their 'narrow escape' and new lease on life. I continue reading stories of sacrifices made by the firefighters, the police-men that entered the towers and never came out alive again. The sacrifices made by ordinary people on that day and beyond are boundless. It makes me love NY forever.

This hurt continues to live in us especially those that saw it and experienced it in some way. It is a day I wish never existed. It is a time I wish I could skip forward and never have to re-live the experience.

God bless the departed souls. May God give courage to all those that suffered and continue suffering....