Darla Part 7 911 and Me

As I write this, today is September 11, 2011. 9/11/11. Ten years and two weeks ago I was in New York City, standing on top of the World Trade Center.

The summer of 2001 was about to start, that was one of the few happy times I remember when I was young. I was 6, going on 7. Usually we went on a vacation, which I never enjoyed. It was usually hours in a car to visit some old people I didn't really know. It was a week or so of the adults hanging out together, laughing, drinking, playing cards or what every they did. I didn't really pay much attention. I usually just hung around outside, doing nothing all day. Then come dinner, they would ask me, "So, what kind of trouble did you get into today?"

That was vacation before and after 2001. But in 2001, mom said, "Instead of going away for vacation this year, let's take day trips to New York." Our vacation this year would be a grand summer long tour of the Big Apple. I had just gotten my new glasses a few months earlier, and could actually see. So a trip sight seeing in New York sounded great to me and my new eyesight.

One or two days every week or so all summer, we would go up to grandpa's house, that's mom's dad, pick up grammy on the way, that's dad's mom. Grandpa never came with us, but grammy almost always did. Dad never came either, but that's another story. We went to grandpa's house because that's where we got the bus. We would get on a bus right outside granda's house.

It was amazing to me, the ride through the tunnel, all the other buses, all the people, the huge bus terminal almost a city by itself full of shops. For a six year old, that was quite an adventure in itself. My uncle lived in The City, in Soho, that's South of Houston Street, not far from China Town. He would meet us sometimes and spend the day with us as we toured The City. It was great having everyone together having fun in the Big Apple.

Once we got off the bus we would walk or take the subway to lots of different places. There was a great toy store on Times Square. All the lights for shows on 42nd street. In fact we saw a play called 42nd Street later that year. We went to museums, like the Guggenheim, Natural History, The Museum of Modern Art. Saw some pretty neat, and weird, stuff. I liked the dinosaurs and other animals, and the suits of armor and swords. I guess I had a thing for shiny, sharp, pointy things even back then. Mom liked Starry Night. Grammy just liked being with us.

We went to parks like Strawberry Fields, and historic places like the Empire State building, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. And there were lots of stores. We didn't buy much, money was always tight. And we went to China Town a few times, that was one of my favorite places.

We also went to the Enterprise Air Craft carrier It was teh only trip that summer that Grandpa came with us. He really liked seeing the planes, he was in the Army Air Corp in World War Two and knew a lot about planes, he even owned a plane for a while. We saw a Blackbird. It was an impressive plane, and it was black. But I'm not sure Blackbird was the best name for it. There was also a memorial to the flag raising at Iwo Jima, we all stood in front of it with our hands over our hearts. I was told that was very patriotic. It was just another exciting part of that summer that I didn't really understand. I've learned a bit about patriotism, Iwo Jima, and other wartime history since then.

Late in August, it was our last trip to New York before school started up again and summer was over, instead of taking the usual bus through the tunnel, we drove to a big parking lot and took something called the PATH to the World Trade Center. It was a train that went from Jersey to New York. I remember getting off the train, going up a normal escalator with what I thought was millions of other people. There were escalators almost as far as I could see on both sides of me. We got off those escalators and walked a little while. We passed a very hairy man playing a guitar, and some people threw coins in his opened guatar case as we passed.

Then there were escalators that went forever. When I first saw them, I thought the went all the way to the top of the building, and it was packed with people. Up until then, I new The City had LOTS of people, but that trip was unlike any other that summer. I looked up that towering escalator as we went up, then looked down when we got to the top. Solid people as far as I could see in every direction. The City was a very Big Apple full of LOTS of people.

At the top of the escalators, I found out we got all the way up to the first floor, ground level. How far underground were we? Then came a couple elevator rides, including one that made my ears pop a few times. I had to look down at my toes, I was sure I would see my stomach laying there on the floor. We went up so fast I felt all my insides get pulled down. That was kind of scary, and exciting, I had never had an elevator ride like that. Even the Empire State Building was not nearly so frightening, and fantastic.

We walked around in what looked to me like just another museum, I had been in quite a few so far that summer, and that’s what this looked like to me. It showed a lot about The City, and had lots of displays on immigration into The City, the growth of The City from those immigrants that made it such a great city. And then another big escalator ride. How for up were we going, heaven can't be much further, or at least outer space.

There we were, on top of one of the Twin Towers. It was impressive even for little Darla. What seemed a long way away was the other Tower. We walked around the observation deck and we could see The City way down below us. I could look down and see plans flying over the river. Look down and see planes? Maybe we were in outer space. Of course I knew we were just very high, not outer space. By this time, I'd read some stories about outer space. But, the top of the Twin Towers was still very impressive. We could see the Statue of Liberty in the middle of the river, and further way, New Jersey. I wondered if I looked carefully enough if I could see grandpa's house, mom said she didn't think so.

I looked at all the city's buildings, and all the city's roads, and could barely see the cars and buses from so far up. And the city went on as far as I could see to the north, past the Empire State building. For a seven year old the site was daunting. I saw a lot of The City that summer, but looking out over The City from so far up, I knew I had seen just a little bit of it.

It had been the best summer ever. I was a happy girl, and that's not always easy for me to say.

Two weeks later it was 9/11/01. I was in school, and our teacher was called out into the hall. She looked scared, shocked, sad, and a lot of other things when she came back in the class room. A while later, there was an announcement over the PA system, there was an attack in New York, on the World Trade Center. School would be closed early and we were all being sent home.

That was the start. Then, once I got home, on the news, I saw those two towers that I had just visited so recently, with all those people, fall down. Over and over, those great buildings with the impressive view, higher than air planes fell in a cloud of dust. They fell down over and over again. For days they fell down.

All the smoke, all the people covered in dirt, all the talk of firemen and police men in the towers, and the towers fell again and again on TV. I thought of those escalators with all those people as far as I could see, with the Towers falling again and again on top of them.

And I cried.

What else was a little girl supposed to do?

So I cried some more.

Was the world ending, did anyone I know die? It looked on the TV like the entire city was covered in smoke and dust, was everything I saw and visited that summer gone? Was my uncle who lived in Soho, so close to the Towers, OK?

And I cried some more. I was a tough little kid so I cried when no one was around, no one ever knew how much I cried, about the pools of tears.

Mom and dad watched the TV non-stop for days, and the Towers fell over and over. The phone rang a lot, there was a lot of quiet talking. After a day or so, mom said everyone one we know was alright, but she did know some people who did loose friends or family. Grandpa had friends in New York who lost family and friends.

My uncle heard the first plane crash, and looking out the window, saw the second plane fly right over his window and crash into the second tower.

After a few days, or actually a week or two, life got almost back to normal. The president was on TV a lot. The Towers still fell a few more times, but not all day long like those first few days. So all that was left, at least for me, was questions. I didn't cry anymore, but I'm always sad when I think about the Towers, that fun summer, any thought about 9/11.

Who did it? Why? Would it happen again, somewhere else, would anyone I know die? War? Would we need another memorial like the one I saw for Iwo Jima?

Then came the talk of war. I though a lot about war for a while. Mom talked about Vietnam a lot. I never heard of Vietnam before, except that I new there was a Vietnam Wall in Washington, DC. When I asked, mom said no, it's nothing like the Berlin Wall. We had seen a part of the Berlin wall that summer at the Enterprise Air Craft carrier. Again, I've learned a bit about both Vietnam and the Berlin wall since then.

All I knew was, we were going to war with the bad people who knocked down the Twin Towers. As I'm righting this, now that I'm much older, 17 in fact, I know much more about war. And I know it's not nice. There is not much a young adult can do about war, and a seven year old girl can do even less. However, war can still be very painful to the innocent young, even when it is distant and has little effect on our daily life. The young see talk of war on TV, hear adults discuss war, hear about death, and it hurts us leaving a small wound in our small young souls. My Aunt got back from Djibouti a little while ago. She has over 20 years in the Air Force. She's looking forward to retirement soon. But until then, there could be more deployments and more months away from her three children and husband. A couple years ago, we all went to Trenton to welcome back my cousin who was deployed to Afghanistan. There was a big parade to welcome back his whole deployment, out of around 2000 soldiers, no casualties, everyone can home walking on there own two feet. Everyone was happy. I cheered and waved my American flag like everyone else.

So, having thought about war now for about 10 years, since the day those great buildings in New York fell, what do I think of war. I heard, actually read since I don't do so well with music, an old song from what I'm told, called War. After listening to that song I wrote the following poem a few years ago. It's not very good, but I think it shows my thoughts on war.

War is a product of misunderstanding, greed, and hatred. War comes from all the evils in men's hearts. There has always been war in human history. And as a result there has always been suffering. A wound in humanity that appears to have no cure. Apparently we poor humans can not live with out it. The biggest fear is how much longer can we live with it.

Ten years have now passed, life is pretty much normal, at least normal for what I know of life. On the news today I watched those majestic buildings fall a few more times, while nearly failing to hold back the tears. Talks of terrorism, and war, constant threats to national security. And a bad economy, could they be related? I am about to enter the world of adults, what will I find? Some questions answered, some not, others have arisen.

Is the wind always blowin' from the foul end of humanity

I found the following on the internet:

There has been little peace since these pronouncements.

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Sorry to get a little religous but I thought this fit this story

Ecclesiastes 3:8, "A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace."
Jeremiah 6:14, "They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace."

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Life as we know it today.
God help the USA.