Tucson remembers 9/11: Strangers comfort strangers | Local news

0
115

[ad_1]

As a native of New York, I have some very vivid memories of 9/11 and the devastation we have all felt. Three in particular come to mind.

My friend Maureen, who now lives in Chandler, is a nurse and was working at New York Hospital in Queens that morning. All medical staff were asked to stay once the news of the planes that hit the twin towers got through. Some had to leave because loved ones were first responders. Maureen stayed while she and the others prepared for an influx of victims. They waited all night and no one came – the victims were all dead. Every year she commemorates the day on the Healing Field in Tempe Town Park. It’s a stunning display of American flags, one for each of the thousands who died, at the Towers, in the Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania. It is impossible to have an emotional reaction to this amazing tribute to those who lost their lives on that terrible day.

My mother, Helen Hurwitt, a New Yorker from Brooklyn, was living outside of West Palm Beach at the time. She watched the news that morning and saw the first plane hit and found it strange that they were playing footage of the B-25 bomber that hit the Empire State Building in 1945. That day she was working across the street and saw the plane crash into the building. Fourteen people died. It wasn’t until the second plane hit the other tower that she realized it was happening in real time.

After all, the day shaped me personally for various reasons. Originally from Long Island, I worked as the director of field experiences at Geneseo State College outside of Rochester, NY walking around like zombies. One of the students I knew well was doing her internship in a special needs elementary school and came to see me that evening. Her mother was seriously ill with breast cancer. When the principal found out what had happened in NYC, she went into every classroom and whispered to the class teachers what had happened. Concerned about the vulnerability of their students, teachers were told not to tell them but to allow their parents to deal with the situation at the end of the school day. Amy was not told anything, however. When she saw the whisper, she immediately assumed that her mother had died and the headmaster was whispering so they could wait until their father was there to deliver the sad news. When she later learned that her mother had not died, she was relieved that the whisper was referring to something else entirely. But at the same time she was grieved over our collective loss. So much emotion a young woman can absorb!

From that day on, when New Yorkers, American compatriots, and citizens around the world came together, I felt a sense of hope that we would experience a sense of new kinship and friendliness towards our neighbors near and far. Unfortunately, this feeling was short-lived as we face the division that exists today. Perhaps remembering 20 years ago will bring us back to what is really important and we will start over to understand and accept our differences to pave a path of compassion and mutual support.

Beth H Scott, EdD

[ad_2]