This is from a woman I grew up with as a child. She lives in New york, and is a film maker. She has started sending us on her email list these accounts. I was moved by it as I got a first hand account from someone I know very well. I hope it touches you the way it did me.
Hello,
A small number of friends responded in concern to the announcement for blood
donations that I flashed out on Tuesday shortly following the World Trade
Center collapse. I thus sent them a subsequent note chronicling my
experiences later that day.
As it turns out, that message seems to be circulating the internet. Since
it has already 'gone public', I thought I'd share a bit with you about the
tenor of the ongoing events here if you're not in New York living through
these tragic and enlightening days.
I'm considering sending occasional observations in the near future since the
ongoing events here are quite moving. If you'd prefer not to have your
inbox clogged (or if you're accidentally on multiple lists) just copy the
entire message and return it to me so I can remove you from the group
address list.
Hoping you and your loved ones are well, wherever you may be...
Best wishes, L2
PS: (If you choose to forward the message, please remove my email
information so I don't find myself swamped.)
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THE LOSS OF INNOCENCE FROM A GLORIOUS SKY
SEPTEMBER 11, 2001
You realize what a tight community this world has developed when you live
through an event such as we saw yesterday, regardless of what place you call
"home". I wanted to thank you for your words of support, which will be
shared in essence with all whom I see in the coming days. That kind of
warmth of spirit means more than you could imagine right now. I thought
you'd like to hear a bit about the past day here, though to live through the
past twenty-four hours has been nearly indescribable.
During the moments after the initial news, I realized that enough people
would be filming ongoing events and felt compelled to DO something to help
those in need rather than to document their trauma. I intended to use my van
as an ambulance, though fortunately, it took a while negotiating details
with a doctor found walking the street. I say fortunate since otherwise, we
would likely have been in the immediate vicinity of the towers when they
collapsed.
Upon hearing that the second tower collapsed along with breaking news of the
Pentagon and State Department disasters, I hurried to collect a friend's
daughter from the UN School, though it was impossible to contact her parents
to confirm my plans. I've been gone nearly all summer, having only returned
to the city less than twelve hours before the disaster began. Thus, out of
practicality and diversion, we went food shopping, as did many other
concerned neighbors. The strange question, what do you buy in case of
prolonged isolation on this tiny island in what may even be a war?
Not long afterwards (after reuniting mother and daughter) and realizing that
my universal 0-negative blood would be essential, it was time to head to the
nearby Bellevue Hospital. Chaos prevailed there. By then, scores of
ambulances from various tri-state sites were ferrying the injured in a
constant stream up First Avenue. It was apparent that some coordination was
necessary to find blood donation sites other than emergency medical centers.
After locating the three new emergency centers set up in Manhattan and
printing out several thousand flyers (and sending the email message you
received), it became clear that something needed to be done to help family
members who were wandering from hospital to hospital to find their loved
ones. I set up my laptop at the gates of Bellevue and worked until the wee
hours this morning compiling a missing person list, that I eventually shared
with the Chief Medical Office.
If you have seen the Walter Salles' film "Central Station", you will
remember the scenes when countless people came to have a woman scribe their
stories to share with loved ones. Much like the film, lines of people waited
to tell me of people who were missing, grasping for any sense of hope that
they may be found healthy. It was one of the most moving experiences I can
remember, and only when I lay awake during the eerie and unfamiliar silence
this morning at dawn, did the power of their desperation and need really hit
me. There are countless thousands of people who can't find ones they love
and as of yet, there are no estimates of how many are missing.
Yet, the power of goodness that emerges in most desperate times like this
was fully evident yesterday. I saw a temporarily blinded crisis technician
waiting in an emergency room who, despite being in terrible pain and covered
with soot, continued operating a two-way radio while he faithfully kept
working the rescue process. People escorted injured strangers walking in
droves across the fifty blocks between the Trade Center and the cluster of
hospitals near my studio. The local Xerox shop, although shut down, copied
all the flyers I brought without charge. Hundreds of people lined up within
an hour of the disaster at every local hospital, hoping to offer blood to
the victims being ferried in by ambulances and riverboats. These and so many
other moving moments during the day were gentle reminders of how desperate
moments bring out the best in people.
Manhattan has since been shrouded in an eerie blanket of silence,
occasionally punctuated by fighter jets flying overhead, along with
emergency vehicles (though the latter started running silent through the
streets once the traffic cleared.) It seems difficult to imagine a sense of
anything but the immediate present. We certainly share the depth of loss
with a much larger community, who have lost loved ones on four jets in many
other sites around the nation. Today dawned into another beautiful late
summer day, in which we all must grapple with a loss of innocence in a time
when a gorgeous morning can bring terrible horror from such a glorious sky.
I wanted to send a note (albeit lengthy) as a snapshot of Manhattan in this
moment in time. A snapshot in which the Empire State Building is once again
the tallest building after more than thirty years as the diminutive neighbor
to the Trade Towers. I hope that you haven't experienced an immediate loss
with this terrible tragedy, and send best wishes to you. If you ask
yourself what to do, then find some way to help those most in need. In New
York, there are simple things, like bringing refreshments to exhausted
hospital and emergency workers, or donating blood and other resources to the
Red Cross. If you live elsewhere, surely those most closely touched by the
events in New York and DC will be helped by your simple words of support.
As hours and days pass, it will be clear what is most needed. Be there and
be ready, for certainly this is uncharted territory for us all.
Thanks again for your concern,
Sending best wishes, L2
COPYRIGHT 2001, LISA LEWENZ