In a testimony that has gone viral this week, comedian Jon Stewart blasted the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday for the absence of many members regarding a hearing for the continuation of a fund for 9/11 first responders.
In the testimony, Stewart points out that many 9/11 first responders (who are not ailing from 9/11 related illnesses) made the trip from New York to Washington. Stewart blades the committee for this show of disrespect for these 9/11 heroes. (more…)
This week, as we remember the 17th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, I watched a new documentary on the history channel titled: “9/11: Escape from the Towers.” The documentary features firsthand accounts of people who were working in the Twin Towers that day.
The stories are astounding. Aside from “9/11,” a documentary by two French filmmakers who happened to be with NYFD Engine 7 on the morning of 9/11, and which I consider to be the best documentary made regarding that day, “Escape from the Towers” is probably second. This documentary so vividly captures the human spirit and gives perspective on what matters in life.
Spoiler alerts
Two of the survivors are Michael Benfante and John Cerqueira were on the 81st floor of the North Tower, just below the impact zone of where American Airlines flight 11 struck.
As they were making their way out, they encountered a disabled woman in a wheelchair. Her normal chair was going to be too heavy and difficult to bring down the stairs. They found a special wheelchair for evacuations and helped the woman (whom they had never met) get down 68 flights of stairs and out of the building.
They could have kept going. They didn’t. When they came to the 21st floor, there had been a triage unit setup. They could have dropped her off there. They didn’t.
Jyoti Vyas was working on the 77th floor of the South Tower. She was 7 months pregnant on September 11. The documentary spends a lot of time focusing on Vyas and her coworkers and their efforts to help her (and her unborn baby) safely evacuate the building. Once again, the story is inspiring as you consider the selflessness, camaraderie, and love that coworkers had for her. Now forever a family in a shared bond of tragedy they experienced that day. I consider all of those coworkers to be heroes. They could have had an “every man for himself” mentality. They didn’t. They could have been more concerned for getting out to see their own families. They weren’t.
In the documentary, one of them talks of how all of them were getting out or none of them were getting out.
9/11 was a day where we saw the worst of humanity and true evil with what those highjacks did. But part of the reason why I watch documentaries is because they’re also inspirational snapshots of the good things which people are also capable of doing to help others out.
They all bare the emotional scars. Many of them got emotional talking about the day, talking about the aftermath and the emotional trauma of that day, talking about the flashbacks that they’ll never be able to escape. There’s the survivor’s guilt and the harrowing experience of being a firsthand witness to so much loss of life.
There are undoubtedly many more stories of heroism and selflessness from that day, stories of risking one’s own life to help another, stories of coworkers sticking together. Unfortunately many of those stories didn’t end happily.
In the documentary, they talk of the firefighters passing them on the stairs, trying to keep everyone calm as they trudged upward.
I think the documentary was also a sobering reminder of the importance of appreciating the people we have. Throughout much of the documentary, there are interviews from Dale Koster, who’s wife Anne worked on the 81st floor of the North Tower. Anne suffered from asthma. Her husband chronicles the helpless feeling of watching these events unfold live, knowing how far up she was and some of her health complications. When the tower collapsed, he knew she had perished.
As a twist in the documentary, we find out that Anne had actually survived. I think that this was an important piece of filmmaking because it invited you into one person’s agony and aguish as he worried about a loved one. Something felt by thousands of relatives that day. Dale and Anne talk of their appreciation for each other and their closeness since the attacks.
It’s sad as I consider the small things people argue over, the things friendships end over, the things that cause strain in families. There are precious people in our lives (also, the Koster’s seemed like they had had a very good marriage before 9/11, I’m just commenting on what I was thinking during the film). We never know when someone will be taken from us.
It’s important to appreciate and cherish the people in our lives.
I loved this documentary. I can’t say enough good things about it. Certainly it’s shrouded in tragedy but I also think that when we see the service of people to others, that we should all be inspired to live selfless lives.
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It’s become somewhat of an annual tradition. I always watch a documentary about September 11 on the anniversary of that day. In American history, it’s still the most significant event to have happened in my lifetime. By far. It’s our “you remember where you were when you heard” moment.
It’s interesting to watch the documentaries, to see the video at the time. I remember the day like it was yesterday but every year, the quality of the videos seems a little more dated, the outfits people are wearing seem a little more 90s.
I remember it like it was yesterday, and so it’s crazy for me to consider that kids in school (aside from seniors) weren’t even born when this event happened. This monumental day that was a paradigm shift in American history is just that to kids, history. They learn about that day from what people tell them and from the same documentaries I watch.
If you weren’t alive that day, and watch documentaries about 9/11, I think it’s hard to appreciate the chaos of September 11th. There’s a sense of fatalism in the documentaries. They almost always begin by contrasting the beauty of that morning against the pandemonium that was soon to burst forth. (more…)
Originally posted September 11, 2012
As I write these words, the stresses of everyday life come to mind. I think of how busy I am between work and my other commitments. I’m so often short-sighted and allow myself to get frustrated. It’s getting late and I jot some thoughts down before going to sleep. On this night, my thoughts are on the past and with people I’ve never met. Seventeen years ago tonight, thousands of Americans went to bed, unaware that it was the eve of their last day on earth.
For me, that’s surreal. Monday was an ordinary start to the work week. In the evening, people played with their kids, and watched Monday Night Football, and kissed their spouses goodnight. They prepared to go on flights for work, or vacation, or just to make it home. They thought about what bill needed to be paid and the home repair which needed to be completed. They went to sleep like it was any other night and woke up to a beautiful Tuesday morning. (more…)
Based on an essay of the same title, originally published September 11, 2011
I thought it was an accident. When my high school principal announced over the PA system that the World Trade Center had been hit by a plane. I distinctly remember hearing someone in the back of the class mutter, “terrorism.”
I was taking a quiz in my third period geometry class fifteen years ago. I was 15 years old, and a sophomore in high school.
I’ve changed a lot over these last fifteen years; we’ve all changed a lot over these last ten years. (more…)
