Thread by @axidentaliberal

I was on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx, heading to a federal building for a Social Security hearing when I saw the smoke

The radio said it was an accident at first, reporting that maybe a small plane crashed

When the second plane struck, all doubt was removed

#NeverForget

A group watched on a portable TV as the fires raged, and people leapt to escape the inferno, making an unthinkable choice-the only decision they had left-about how they would die

#911Remembered

The first tower collapsed as we sat in horror

All those human beings, perished in an instant

But that didn’t stop firefighters and law enforcement from doing their jobs

They rushed in to help, knowing the danger
They always did

More than 400 gave their lives that day

#FDNY

Numbly, I went to do my case

Judge Noonan, an affable man with a huge heart, started the proceedings when Chief Judge Zamora pulled him outside the courtroom

The facility was being shut down

I went back to my office, in futile despair that I could do nothing

#September11

I called to check on my sister

Her office was right across from the Towers

Thankfully she couldn’t get there

A few days later she did
The windows had all been blown out
Everything was destroyed

But at least they were all alive

Because that’s it below

#911Day

World Trade 7 crashed later that day

My wife used to work there

Back then we would meet in the plaza and grab lunch, or sometimes she would just get Ben & Jerrys from the underground kiosk instead

She still knew people there, I think

#Honor911

All gone

Along with some 3,000 people

Fathers and mothers, daughters and sons
Victims and heroes
Lost forever

New York
Shanksville
The Pentagon

A nation scarred in perpetuity
Because of a pointless act of barbarity

#TwinTowers

For many it was over that day

For others it lingers on

Not just in memory of the fallen that day, but through illness

It’s thought 400,000 people were harmed in NY alone

18,000 have cancer

An estimated 4,000 more died since 9/11

#September11

cdc.gov/wtc/eligiblegr…

After 9/11 there was unity
Common purpose
Kinship

Now we yell at one another discordantly

Questioning  the truth, and the patriotism of those who tell it

How did we get here

How do we move forward

How can we honor them when we are so filled with anger

#NeverForget911

America has always had one remarkable trait

Resiliency

After WWI, WWII, even after the Civil War

We have healed

Our divisions now seem pale to what they have been

I have faith these scars will mend

And we will grow

Bigger
Stronger
Better

#911Memorial