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Together We Fell
“At Shanksville, where many people who were
given no time at all to decide, did the right thing.”
--Bill Clinton 2011
It felt like we all lived through
the same nightmare on that
Tuesday morning in 2001.
A plane had crashed into
one of the twin towers
blared the news report.
I immediately remembered the many planes,
in foul weather, that have crashed into
the Empire State Building--but hey,
it was a beautiful morning, cold and crisp
and electric blue.
Then the second plane
hit the second tower,
and it suddenly dawned on us
that we, that America was under attack,
just like that gorgeous Sunday morning
at Pearl Harbor.
The rest of our morning was a horror show,
people jumping, both towers falling,
people jumping, both towers falling,
the crash at the Pentagon,
and the courage shown by the passengers
who brought their plane down
in a field at Shanksville, thus preventing
an attack on the White House.
Then we experienced the aftermath,
where tens of thousands of volunteers
pitched in to clear the rubble
and search for survivors;
when the whole world sent
their prayers and support.
Every year on 9/11
we celebrate Patriot’s Day.
For the first several years
there was a reading aloud
of all the names or those who perished.
It took over an hour.
I recall in 2003, when Mayor Bloomberg said:
So many names--there is hardly room
on the walls of my heart.
Today, 17 years later, I listened
to Trump bumble his way
through a well-written tribute;
like listening to a fifth grader
reciting Shakespeare.
He mentioned the 7,000
men and woman in the armed services
who have died in the Middle East
fighting in the war that never ends.
I don’t know what makes me sadder,
remembering that tragic day,
or trying to fully grasp the nightmare
we are once again all living together.
The 21st Century has yet to rise
off its knees.
Glenn Buttkus
Posted over at dVerse Poets Pub
8 comments:
I like your quote from Bloomberg: "So many names--there is hardly room
on the walls of my heart."
The fifth-grader reciting Shakespeare I'd say is an accurate parallel, from what little I've seen of the bumbler's noise. It's really just unbelievable, the events that have occurred in the 21st century, those whom we have let rise, those who have fallen. And turning off the screen does little to allay the uneasiness from this ongoing bad dream we're all in together. That hour-long reading of the names is chilling.
I think that the tragedy itself in a way has really faded in comparison to all the waging of wars and conflict since... I think it will get worse before it gets better...
Terrorism today is mostly limited to countries in the Middle East... but the tortured masses there rarely gets more than a small piece in the newspaper.
Thank you for the reminder of Shanksville. That heroism and self-sacrifice is easy to forget. Why are Democrat presidents so much more articulate than Republican ones?
this was so powerful my heart beat so fast reading it. you mention the aftermath which people tend to overlook, the confusion, again that people tend to overlook and i understand how jaded you must feel, but continue to hope for all of us, we cannot give up
Indeed that day loosed an evil beyond our most horrific fear, and spawned a need for strong leaders to bring us together in the battle against that evil. Instead we have allowed to rise to power a leader whose verbiose and narcissistic diatribes fan the fames of discontent. A wise person has said if we want change we must BE the change.
A superb write Glenn...unfortunately, as you eloquently observe, the 21st century is not doing well at all (come to think of it, the build-up extends at least one century before that...) Janice
Bloomberg's statement - and yours: The twenty=first century has yet to rise up off its knees. Both so very very powerful.
Well written, my friend. As always.
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