9/11

[Guest]

I have spent this past week watching Steven Spielberg's documentary "Rising: Rebuilding Ground Zero" and I have to say if you get chance and you are interested in how a society not only rebuilds but actually rebuilds with hope for the future and respect for the past, you should see if you can catch this series (6 parts) on the discovery channel.

 

I have cried so much but have been amazed at the small things that are going into the rebuild. The people who are working on it, those who have planned it and even the story of the "survival tree"

 

I also now feel a pull to return to New York to pay my own respects at the 9/11 memorial museum which won't open fully until 2012.

 

I visited Ground Zero in 2004 and even then felt very emotional and moved when I stood near the site. I visited again with my husband and children in late 2008 and we all felt the weight of the emotions.

 

I believe the memorial waterfalls and the museum will for many allow a place to put those emotions they feel when probably they did not lose anyone but were just rocked to the core by the events of that day.

 

Writing this, with no friends or family lost to me that day, I am shocked that 10 years on I feel so raw emotionally. I wondered if folks might share their thoughts about today.

[narnia]

I was watching the news on BBC as it actually happened, and can still vividly recall how shocked I felt, and watching people involved in it was terribly, terribly awful. I cannot imagine the thoughts that must have raced through their minds when they had to make the decisions they did. I now have a son living in New York, he and his wife both work in Manhatten, quite close to ground zero and I know I would have been frantic if they had been there on 9/11. I am concious that they are all on high alert today, as they have all been warned there are new threats of more attacks to 'mark the anniversary'. What a world we live in.

I made a concious decision NOT to watch any of the documentaries about the events of that awful day, partly I think, out of respect for those who died and partly because I could not bear to risk them showing people jumping to their deaths; those images will stay with me all my life........it took me a while to realise, as it was happening, what they were doing and why. In the event, I watched part of a documentary yesterday about the families left behind and how they cope day to day. To be left with, for instance, only a credit card, or hat, to remind you of someone whose every heartbeat mattered to you, is heartbreaking. How they cope with it,I do not know and that many of them cope with no sense of bitterness is a mystery to me. Those who still seem to live in a haze of disbelief are the ones i think I would identify with most of all, after all, the loss was catastrophic and no body to bury and mourn over must make it unbearable. I cannot imagine that depth of grief. So, no, I won't be watching any more of the documentaries, it seems to much of an intrusion on lives that have had every single thought and action pored over already. I do understand though that in many respects their grief is not only theirs any more...............it almost 'belongs' to all of us, as one way or another, we all lost something on that terrible day.

[Stargrower]

I have watched some of the documentaries and have been surprised at how shocking it still is after 10 years. In various news programmes at the time and since, I must have seen the planes crash into the towers 100 times over, but it still shocks me to the core. My thoughts are with all those who lost their lives or their loved ones on that terrible morning.

Beehive

[Rea]

For myself the shock comes from knowing some people were capable of such evil. We know evil deeds are carried out in numerous ways everyday, but we are mostly untouched by them. This event touched everyone because of the unbelievable callousness of the perpetrators. I'd be surprised if even they or their followers truly understand the depth of horror we all felt at such cold hearted planning and execution.

I'm sure we've all at some time or another said we hate someone but this hatred is so far beyond what any rational person would ever feel, its quite beyond our comprehension. It was planned without thought of anyone or anything. They didn't care about nationalities, ethnicity, colour, background or religion. As far as I can see it didn't have an aim. Even Hitler and Stalin had aims, as horrendous and unspeakable as they were, but that helped us to understand how to prevent anything like it happening again. This event doesn't help us to understand, if there's no aim, how do we stop it happening, how do we protect anyone or anything we hold dear?