“The ash filled the air and blocked the sun.”- 9/11 One Day In America
Watching documentaries, reflecting, especially as a native madly in love with the skyline, the tears flow the same. There are many things I’ll never forget about that day, the miasma of burnt bodies and buildings permeating Manhattan, entering my 72nd street apartment, bodies hanging from the window, choosing to jump over incineration, despair and helplessness…but this week a new feeling emerged.
After the way I’ve been treated I did not think this planet was one worth saving, this civilization too corrupt and vacuous. But never forgetting reminded me there are braver people than I: ones who don’t leave burning buildings until everyone is out, ones who climb smoked filled stairways to open jammed doors for people trapped as it all crumbles, ones who drag strangers and loved ones alike determined to get out alive, ones who share oxygen masks, ones who fly helicopters close to the roof of burning buildings just in case there’s someone to save, ones who fought to stop those planes from crashing, ones who were safe and ran back in to help others and never made it back out, ones who lied to bring peace to those in their dying moments telling them they would live, ones who weeped for the lives lost of people they did not and would never know… and those people are worth saving.
9/11 at it’s core is one of the greatest displays of humanity, love, that we will ever see. Pete Davidson if you’re reading this, your father is one of the reasons I think this place is worth it. In the face of danger he placed others before himself. If he could do what he did, if all those people could do it, then I can give a fighting chance too and push beyond myself. Those brave, selfless souls, those innocent people, let them remind you what being human truly is about, and may we live to honor all those sacrificed souls. Thank you for keeping my heart from being jaded, thank you for your courage. We will never forget. Via: Casey Patt