Xena

Chicago7
Flash Presentation
 
Reflections of a September morning

September 11th, 2001 - A voice on the radio tells me of a plane crashing in the WTC. Then, but seemingly a few minutes later, another one. Followed by one on the Pentagon and yet another heading , they thought, for the White House.

Time then seems to have stood still. Remembered is those oh-so-terrible minutes (days!!) when not a call could be made to America. And then, gratefully, miraculously, phones working and finding everyone safe. Remembered, also, is finally reaching friends in Japan and having them tell me that the Canadian Embassy had called the day before warning them to not travel and to stay in touch.

The day before….

Emotions swirling, questions asked. The first to be asked, so surreal was this: Am I dreaming?
This to happen in America? Thousands upon thousands dead?? Can this be?
And, creeping slowly through my mind, the killer , WHY?

Then the images.. the Great towers collapsing (again & again)…..The terror and shock of the fleeing
New Yorkers ……The firefighters dirty ,spent, rushing in…..
And , wrenching my soul, the images of the ones leaping from the buildings.
What was their last thoughts, these innocents? Did they wonder why their world was ending?

They told me the day before…

Know I wept, know the world wept along with me for these oh-so innocent ones. Dying without knowing , with not a hint, not a breath nor a whisper of why.

America has since changed.
Vanished , perhaps forever, is the carefree, comfortable existence it had enjoyed.
I see this in the airports, in the Media, in the mounting war-fever that seems to have taken hold of Americans. Innocence lost.

Your President Bush is, perhaps, not so silly in his use of words, after all.
Quintessence Evil it is, surely,
This shattering of the American Dream on that September morning…

Yea, the day before…

Xena