Thread by @MarinaMedvin

My most vivid memory from 9/11 was the smell of burnt flesh.

It wasn’t until the next morning that the reality of what happened the day prior truly settled in. I was still in disbelief until I opened my window…

The Smell of September 11 townhall.com/columnists/mar…

I woke up on September 12, 2001, to rays of sunshine beaming on my face. It looked beautiful outside. It was a brand new day, and the terrible dream about the day prior seemed to be over. I walked over to my bedroom window and I opened it.

I inhaled the air, expecting the crisp, fresh smell of a New York September morning, a scent that I loved so much. But my heart quickly sank. I smelled something different. I smelled something that will never leave my memory for as long as I shall live. I smelled burnt flesh.

The reality sent shivers down my spine. The gray ashes that covered my friends and neighbors, who spent six hours walking the bridge from Manhattan back home to Staten Island on the day prior, the ashes that coated their bodies head-to-toe, were not just ashes…

The gray ashes that covered my friends and neighbors, who spent six hours walking the bridge from Manhattan back home to Staten Island on the day prior, the ashes were not just ashes from the fallen buildings. They were also the ashes of the people inside of the buildings.

“It smells like Auschwitz,” I whispered to myself, as I looked back at the stack of Holocaust books next to my bed. My eyes filled with tears. I closed that window and just stared out at the world for a while. I realized that yesterday wasn’t a dream. September 11 did happen.

“It smells like Auschwitz,” I whispered to myself, as I looked back at the stack of Holocaust books next to my bed. My eyes filled with tears. I closed that window and just stared out at the world for a while.

I will never forget that moment.

We must never forget. We must never ameliorate the evil. We must persist. The ideology of life and freedom, the philosophy of American values, must win over the ideology of death, the doctrine of radical Islam.

#September11