September 11

I remember watching the events unfold.

My sister was at work and called to wake me up. I asked her "who had died," and she said, "just turn on the television." I did. I believe she saw the second plane hit the tower; I only saw the replay footage.

It was the most horrifying thing to witness and I did it from the safety of my living room. I cannot imagine how New Yorkers did it. They are tough in New York, I'm told. We are a resilient people after all.

Since then, watching certain films gives me pause. Men in Black has a shot of the towers. Godspell has a musical number that ends on top of the north tower. There are other films, so many others. And what is odd is that films made after that day, eight years ago today, that show the familiar shot always seem to be missing something.

A couple of days after, I wrote the names of the flight crew and passengers who died in the four planes used in the attacks.

Two thousand nine hundred and ninety-eight people died as a result of the attacks on September 11th. I'm not counting the perpetrators. They wanted this. 2,998 people did not. Thirteen of this number died not on the day but of wounds sustained on the day.

Check out these stats (according to WikiAnswers):
There were 266 people on the four planes:
American Airlines Flight 11 (crashed into the WTC): 92 (including five terrorists)
United Airlines Flight 175 (crashed into the WTC): 65 (including five terrorists)
American Airlines Flight 77 (crashed into the Pentagon): 64 (including five terrorists)
United Flight 93 (downed in Shanksville, PA): 45 (including four terrorists)

There were 2,595 people in the World Trade Center and near it, including:
343 NYFD firefighters and paramedics
23 NYPD police officers
37 Port Authority police officers
1,402 people in Tower 1
614 people in Tower 2
658 people at one company, Cantor Fitzgerald
1,762 New York residents
674 New Jersey residents
1 NYFD firefighter killed by a man jumping off the top floors of the Twin Towers

There were 125 civilians and military personnel at the Pentagon.
1,609 people lost a spouse or partner on 9/11. More than 3,051 children lost parents.

Reflecting on this makes my problems seem petty... maybe that is the point?

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