A Brief Final Word About 9-11

Twenty-five years have passed since that awful day. America—and the world—was changed forever.

There are still questions we haven’t answered. Who was really responsible? The Saudis? Osama bin Laden? Some other terrorist group?

We still ask: Did we know it was coming? Could we have prevented it?

But there is one question I will probably ask myself forever:

Did the people who carried out this horrendous attack accomplish what they set out to do?

Unfortunately, my answer is YES.

Did they kill a lot of Americans? Yes.

Did they put fear into the hearts of millions of us? Yes.

Did they disrupt the comfortable, complacent way of life we had taken for granted? Yes.

And there is something else that many people forget.

September 11, 2001, was primary election day in New York and in many other places around the country. Voting is one of the things we Americans take most seriously.

Yet, on that day, those terrorists accomplished something no one had ever done before. They forced us to postpone our elections.

For a short time, they took something precious from us: our right to vote.

When I finally got home that day, I went straight to my polling place. I expected to walk in, cast my ballot and go home.

Instead, I found the doors closed.

I was angry. I was surprised.

But more than anything, I realized something I never wanted to admit:

At least on that day, the bad guys had won —bwc

Alice McGinty is a traveler, artist, life coach, and an inspiration online. She also happens to be just four years shy of her 100th birthday, but this doesn’t stop her from living a healthy and happy life. It does bring up questions, though, about how senior citizens in the U.S. often feel like they’ve been sent off to pasture, without emotional or logistical support. McGinty wants to do something about it.

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Remembering An Act Of Kindness 

On 9-11

Over the years, on the anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the thwarted attack on our nation’s capital, I’ve shared my memories of that terrible day.

I’ve told you about walking from my office in Greenwich Village to downtown—about a mile and a half—while everyone else was heading in the opposite direction. People were covered in soot and ash. Their faces were blank, confused and frightened. More than once, I wondered if I was doing the right thing.

I’ve also told you about walking across the Williamsburg Bridge with thousands of other New Yorkers. Nobody was talking. The only sounds were the endless sirens and the roar of F-16 Air Force jets screaming overhead.

But there is one thing I may never have told you.

Amid all the fear, confusion and devastation, there was a simple act of kindness shown to us by a group of people whose religion and culture are too often mocked and misunderstood.

And on this anniversary, I think that story is worth telling.

It was a beautiful Tuesday morning. On any other day it would have been a great day for a walk. But this day was no ordinary day. And the thousands of people who walked with me over a bridge I had crossed in my car that very morning knew that September 11 would never be the same again.

Many of those folks had been walking for miles just to get to one of the few escape routes from a city where mass transit had been suspended and no private vehicles allowed on the bridges and tunnels. So, we walked over the hot roadway. Some weeping, most silent. We were confused, hot, tired and- thirsty. Nobody had thought of bringing water with them. We were all too anxious to get home to our loved ones.

And then, as we were nearing the Brooklyn side of the bridge, an apparition.

Not the Red Cross. Not the police and not the FDNY. They were busy elsewhere. The apparition we encountered were not dressed in angelic white robes. Quite the opposite. Wearing traditional garb (long, black coats and hats. All with beards and payot)* was a group of Hasidic men handing out cold bottles of water to anybody who wanted one. No questions asked. No proselytizing. They were there to do a mitzva. A commandment or good deed in Judaism, serving as a religious duty and a way to connect with God. And on that day, when the most ungodly of acts were perpetrated on innocent people, a connection with god was just what was needed.

So, the next time you hear—or are tempted to make—a hateful or hurtful remark about people whose suffering has gone on for centuries, stop for a moment.

Remember those men on the Williamsburg Bridge.

They knew people were suffering. They could have walked away. Instead, they chose to help. They asked for nothing in return. Not money. Not recognition. Not even a “thank you.”

They simply did the right thing.

That is the image I want you to remember. ...bwc

*Side curls worn by orthodox Jewish men.

 

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Many people assume the North Tower collapsed first because it was hit first. In fact, the South Tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m., about 29 minutes before the North Tower.

A remarkable number of people escaped the World Trade Center before the collapses.

Approximately 15,000–20,000 people evacuated the complex after the attacks began. The fact that so many people got out before the towers collapsed is one of the less-discussed aspects of the disaster.