A Beautiful Thing on September 11, 2001

Since I live abroad, I didn't get quite as much of the publicity blitz regarding the build up to the anniversary of September 11th like most Americans stateside. I may be making a comment quite late according to the calendar's date, but I didn't feel I had very much to say or offer on this blog before today.

This is the story how I found out about the tragic events:

I was in Italy the day of the horrible event and saw the smoking towers from 40 television sets that were on display in the appliance store where I was buying a cell phone in Venice that day at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. You see, I was living in that city then. It was surreal to see that "absurd" picture repeated so many times across so many screens. Then I overhead some comments by the local salesman speaking in dialect to each other and realized that the images were something that was really happening. I had already made a special Internet appointment that day at one of the city libraries offering free access. (In those days, I didn't have my own computer or personal Internet access.) I remember being so happy and horrified as I got about 30 minutes of a email conversation in almost real time with people living in the New York area. Then the lines went dead, even my internet access to them. But I knew they were safe.

I found this video documentary about a heroic underbelly of action on the part of Americans that day in 2001. Boatlift chronicles the efforts of hundreds of boatmen who spontaneously evacuated lower Manhattan Island as the twin towers were smoking and continued after they fell. The men simply wanted to help others in need.

Una riflessione sull'undici settembre