NOTE: This is a repost of an article I wrote about 9/11 several years ago. I don't have anything else to add.
Unlike so many of my blogging friends (here, here and here, for a few examples), I was not planning on commenting on the 5th anniversary of that horrific day (and the weeks that followed). Unlike many of them, 9/11 hit too close to home in my case. My wife's sister, Myrna Yaskulka worked in the trade centers for Fred Alger Funds. She was a vibrant, fun loving, nourishing person, a mother of 3 sons, caretaker for her own mother and most of all a genuinely innocent spirit. On that beautiful fall morning, we were still living in Long Island and I was working in Purchase, NY for Interliant. I was about to leave for work, when I saw the news of the first plane and was just getting on the Long Island Expressway, when Bonnie called to tell me of a second plane and said I should come home. I returned home and saw F-18 fighter jets buzzing our house. I remember thinking they looked like angry hornets, loaded with missiles.
Though Bonnie was immediately concerned for her sister, I thought the law of averages would protect us and she would be fine. By that evening we received word that no one from her sisters office had been heard from. By then the roads into and out of the city were closed and Bonnie's mom was alone on Staten Island. I actually "borrowed" my friends police badge and drove from Long Island to Staten Island to bring Bonnie's mom to our house as I expected the worse. The roads were empty, except for other police officers and emergency workers heading into the city to help with the rescue. I took the Verazano Bridge from Brooklyn into Staten Island and stopped midway through, looking into NY Harbor. I don't remember seeing the lights on at the Statue of Liberty ( all the better, she was probably crying anyway), but I remember a clear view into a smoke-filled lower Manhattan. It was eerie and angry and chillingly dark, except for the bright spot lights focused on where the towers had stood. The fires were still burning and the smell was intense. I remember stopping and thinking, Alan, take a good look and never forget what you see, smell and feel. I got to her mom's place, took her and headed back out to Long Island, flashing my master shield whenever questioned (it occurred to me that terrorists could have done that too), we made it home and tuned into the TV like everyone else.
So started a 10 day period of mourning, mixed with hope and then finally despair and realization, that we would never see Myrna again. We organized a memorial service that was attended by thousands, but was missing the guest of honor. We never heard anything or found out anything more about how Myrna reached heaven. Needless to say, 9/11 is always an ordeal in our house. A scab that is ripped off a never healed wound. I know the rest of the country shares our grief, but it just cuts so close to the bone for us.
So here we are 5 years later and we still have not delivered the fatal response I thought our country would to those responsible, (I don't think they live in Iraq). We hear about rescue workers continuing to suffer from their efforts and we have tried to go on with our lives. My youngest son is named for Myrna and whenever he dances or sings, he reminds us of how much she used to love to do those things. We moved from NY to Florida to be nearer Bonnie's other sisters. Today they will gather together to remember their missing sister. I am so touched by the many people who called and wrote, telling us we were in their thoughts and prayers today. I don't know what to say other than, thank you. I look forward to the new building to rise up on the trade center site. To the memorial to its victims and hope it will finally bring a little closure to this dark chapter. They say history is written by the winners, if so I hope history recalls that 9/11 was the beginning of the end for terrorism, the beginning of the end of Islamic extremism and the beginning of the end for enemies of democracy and freedom everywhere. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers, God bless you for caring, God Bless my sister-in-law Myrna and the other victims of 9/11 and God Bless America!