Thank you, please share everything you can.

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: : 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.) : : ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- : : 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

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