Posted on 09/12/2002 4:06:17 AM PDT by Shenandoah
The wind began to blow at exactly 8:46 a.m., when the city was hushed for a frozen minute of silence. The wind was fierce and sudden, driving from the west across harbor and river, pushing violently through the spaces between buildings.
The wind streamed into the 16 acres where the World Trade Center once stood. It turned an American flag attached to a construction crane into a flat, colored rectangle. It made flags lashed to buildings flap and billow and strain against their cords. Hats flew off. Old people held onto the young. The wind blew without remorse, indifferent to the speaking of the names of the dead.
"Gordon M. Aamoth Jr.," former Mayor Rudy Giuliani said in a low-key voice. "Edelmiro Abad. Maria Rosa Abad ..."
The wind lifted the names out of the hearing of strangers. On the 10th floor of 2 World Financial Center, the wind attacked the improvised tents above the heads of the media and tried to turn them into sails. Crews struggled frantically to pull down the tents, afraid that cameras would be knocked off their ledge onto people below on West St. The wind paused as they labored, then returned with greater ferocity. Someone said it was blowing at 40 knots.
Down in the foundation of the destroyed World Trade Center, relatives of those who died a year ago were coming forward to drop roses in a ring called the Circle of Honor. The wind created swirling dust devils in the earth beneath their feet.
The names went on. Many were in multiples, two, three, four with the same last names. Brennans and Browns. Two named Burns, five named Campbell, two each of Collins and Colon. A visitor moved two blocks through somber crowds and the voices were naming two Farrells and three called Fernandez, and then a long time passed and they were naming three Rosenbaums, two Rosenbergs, two Rosenblums, two Rosenthals. All joined in the whirl of dust and roses.
I live 50 miles north of NYC and work 30 miles north of NYC.
9/10 was hot and a bit muggy. The morning of 911 it was much the same. I heard on the morning weather report that it would clear up somewhat and climb into the 80's - nothing to write home about.
But, mid-morning, an unexpected breeze began to blow which gradually turned into strong, gusty winds. The sky cleared to one of those most, rare, deep crystal blues with beautiful, puffy, autumn clouds sailing across the sky. Later in the day the full trees with their hints of autumn foilage were exceptionally beautiful with the sun setting and casting a brilliant, golden glow over the landscape as the trees whipped in the blowing wind. The air was as cool, and clean, and fresh as any day I can ever remember.
What makes all of this significant is that on the morning of 911, before the planes hit, it was also an exceptionally beautiful morning. I can remember thinking so on my drive to work - perfect, clear, early autumn weather. And then I heard the news over my car radio.
All of this has made me wonder. Is there some greater power at work today...perhaps sending a message? What had begun as, and was expected to be, an average, semi-hot, somewhat averagely humid day, turned, early on, into a glorious, amazingly clear, hope-filled day!
I'm not the most religious guy in the world, but when I felt those winds whipping across the Hudson, and watched the sky clear, I couldn't help but feel a presence.
It was 79 degrees yesterday morning and a lovely 55 right now. Still quite breezy. The air is so fresh I just can't stand it. Slept like a log last night with the windows open.
Here's the full article.
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