The wildfires in the news have reminded me of an NYC evening, not that long after 9/11. I and a couple of colleagues were at a bar (Automatic Slim's, if memory serves) and there was this group of young guys in some kind of uniform. 1/X
2/X They were having a grand old time, though I noticed they weren't having much luck chatting people up. We could not figure out what the uniform was. I was dispatched by our group to go find out.
3/X So I tapped one on the shoulder and asked. His face fell a bit. "Firefighters," he said. "French firefighters." He turned to his friends and said something like "see? no one. absolutely no one." Turned back to me.
4/X He explained that France had moved very quickly to send firefighters and rescue units to NYC after 9/11. He asked me in a really pained tone why Americans did not know that they were there. I stammered out something about news cycles and headlines.
5/X His friends were listening now. I switched to French and this made them sadder - if even *I* didn't know, well then. Another firefighter spoke up. "You must tell them. Tell everyone. Tell America. We are here. We are with you."
6/X I never did - my news agency did, but I had no real role in the piece. I did, however, start buying them drinks. I got a little glimpse of this code of international solidarity. They drank enough shots to the first responders who died when the towers came down that...
7/X ... my memories of the later part of that night are...oh..."fuzzy." But every single time I read a story about firefighters/first responders coming to the US (as is happening now) I always think of those guys in that bar that night and how much...
8/X ...they wanted everyone to know that they were there to help. And how personally they took the attacks. (No, my story doesn't have a point or a punchline. Just kind of a "Dear Twitter Diary.")
9/9 I guess I should emphasize: They weren't asking for credit. They thought we needed to hear that the world stood with us.
