Empty Sky

I still have my November 2001 issue of The Sun - a self described magazine of literature that isn't "'literary' or 'political' or 'spiritual' in the usual sense. It begins where those labels end, which is where life gets interesting."

That months issue was devoted heavily to the 9/11 murders. I cancelled my subscription and never bought another issue. It was the first time that the term "moral equivalency" penetrated into my psyche like a slap to the face.

I still count "Manhattan Buddha" as the best poem I ever read that dealt with the World Trade Center attacks on 9/11/01:

Straight-backed, seated on the window ledge, he looks down at traffic pebbling the street ninety floors below, the hair at the back of his neck about to catch, nothing but morning air under his dangled feet. The flames behind him make the sound of waves trying to clutch the sand they just can’t hold, the way they never could. He sees it all and smiles. There is no humbug in him, in his oblique worship of the horizon, the seagulls, the faithful ferries dragging like dunked flies across the water; his face alert as if he watched God watching, he opens his arms and falls -- leaving me here inside, clinging to myself, the walls on fire. ~Mark Smith-Soto

Almost everyone remembers where they were when the planes hit. It was a defining moment - just like when JFK was killed. I remember listening to the Loop (WLUP) and getting ready for work when the announcer broke in to say that a plane had struck one of the World Trade Centers. I thought that it must have been an accident. The year before, a man in a glider had landed accidently onto the Statue of Liberty. I thought this must be some similar publicity stunt.

Minutes later they announced that another plane had struck the second Tower. I knew it was deliberate.

I ran downstairs and turned on Fox news and there they were; both burning. The replays of the second plane were sickening. The smoke, the fire, the people stranded on the top floors, and frantic calls to 911 for help. The Fire department was trying to get a couple helicopters up to the roofs but they couldn't do it because of the smoke. Then there were the other stories & rumors - reports of planes coming towards the Sears Tower, The White House and the Pentagon. I called in sick that morning.

For all of Bush's slip-ups and failings, the one thing that he's done correctly is to go full force after the terrorists who were involved in this tragedy. You might not agree with 100% of his policies but you can't take away the fact that we haven't been attacked again. That is a significant step. That is why I get so angry with the Unhinged Leftists like Durbin, Pelosi, Schumer and Kennedy. They want to bestow Civil Rights and Constitutional privileges on these unlawful enemy combatants - effectively protecting the terrorists and opening up the shades on our covert counter-terrorism methods.

That is a big disconnect.

I hope you do some small thing to honor the memory of those that died on 09.11.01 - I'm dedicating this to the 3,056 people who lost their life on 911. It is for the 343 Bravest from The New York City Fire Department and the 60 Finest from The Port Authority and The New York City Police Forces, who lost their life, in the hope of saving the life of others.

Remember, it is a Fireman's job to run into a burning building. Those police officers down there didn't have to enter those burning towers, but they did.

At 8:47 EST, say a prayer.