Posted on 09/09/2006 11:49:20 PM PDT by Loud Mime
The sounds of 9/11, beyond the metallic roar.
Friday, September 8, 2006 12:01 a.m. EDT
Everyone remembers the pictures, but I think more and more about the sounds. I always ask people what they heard that day in New York. We've all seen the film and videotape, but the sound equipment of television crews didn't always catch what people have described as the deep metallic roar.
The other night on TV there was a documentary on the Ironworkers of New York's Local 40, whose members ran to the site when the towers fell. They pitched in on rescue, then stayed for eight months to deconstruct a skyscraper some of them had helped build 35 years before. An ironworker named Jim Gaffney said, "My partner kept telling me the buildings are coming down and I'm saying 'no way.' Then we heard that noise that I will never forget. It was like a creaking and then the next thing you felt the ground rumbling."
Something terrible had happened. Life was reduced to its essentials. Time was short. People said what counted, what mattered. It has been noted that there is no record of anyone calling to say, "I never liked you," or, "You hurt my feelings." No one negotiated past grievances or said, "Vote for Smith." Amazingly --or not--there is no record of anyone damning the terrorists or saying "I hate them."
No one said anything unneeded, extraneous or small. Crisis is a great editor. When you read the transcripts that have been released over the years it's all so clear.
Flight 93 flight attendant Ceecee Lyles, 33 years old, in an answering-machine message to her husband: "Please tell my children that I love them very much. I'm sorry, baby. I wish I could see your face again."
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
I was (re)watching the 9/11 memorial tribute found here,
http://www.pentagonattack911.com/wtc.htm
and what stood out to me this time around was the sounds.
Made Especially for the Fifth Anniversary of 9-11.
5 Minute Video
Warning: Graphic Content
Thanks. I tried all sorts of searches before I posted this, but didn't put peggy noonan in ONE word.
I am so sorry, but I refuse to read peggy any longer.
LLS
A strange thing about answering machines. Some people who weren't home to answer the call now have recordings of their loved ones that they wouldn't have if they had answered.
I have a recording of my son, 20 blocks away from the towers, calling us in Florida to find out what was happening.
My sister feels that way about Ann Coulter.
I think this is a very good column. My brother's friend called his Mom. He was in the second tower. He told her their had been an explosion in the first tower. He said I love you Mom, tell my sisters, brothers and my entire family I love them too. His Mom said. Don't waste time talking get out of that building. He said they had been told to stay. she said an 'expletive'. Get out. His Mother never cursed; she was a southern lady in all senses of the word. He and his friend went to the stairwell. They began the long descent.He was in the stairwell whent the second plane hit. He got out, thank God. However, if he hadn't The family would have had that precious message. Had he stayed, he would certainly have died. His office was above where the plane hit. My brother was in a nearby starbucks when the first plane hit. He had business in the first tower. He saw the plane hit the second tower. We did not know for hours if he was in the building. He and many others walked home to Connecticut. My Mom asked him why he didn't stop and maybe stay in a hotel or at a friends. He had friends closer. He said if this was the end of the world, he wanted to be with his family-us.
Your loss. Those of us who recognize good writing will continue to read her work.
It reminds me of something from the Alexandr Solzhenitsyn once said about family being the most important thing in life, because government couldn't take that from you.
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