Today, on MSNBC, they replayed NBC's coverage, "9/11 As It Happened," from the morning, coverage like what I watched while I was getting dressed for work. Because that's where I was when I found out the Towers had been hit. Ironing a shirt, getting ready for work. Looking at it going, 'That wasn't an accident, there's no way that was an accident.'
(c) James Nachtwey
They had actual footage of the second jet approaching and smashing into the South Tower. They were interviewing (via the phone) a woman from the area and Jane Pauley sitting there prattling on and there it goes. When I was watching it, I was like, 'that's the second plane,' and as I reached for my remote to rewind it, they showed the South Tower exploding. You hear Matt Lauer say, "Oh, My God," and Pauley's oblivious. It made me cry all over again, because it was so intentional.
And I remember feeling so mad at how they kept calling it an accident. When it was so obvious to me that it was on purpose. On purpose. On purpose.
Watching that footage, I felt mad that she was oblivious. How could you not see that? Notice that? Maybe she wasn't looking at the screen but how could you not look at that Tower burning? I couldn't stop looking, even before the North Tower was hit.
So calm when reporting that the South Tower fell.
(c)James Nachtwey
And later, as they showed the North Tower collapsing, after the South Tower had collapsed, she "believed" that it was the tower first hit. Even though their camera angle didn't change!
(c)James Nachtwey
Images of people in shock. Tired, covered in debris.
This image, this footage is stuck in my mind. They ran, hard, to get away from the debris.
And I remember praying that they would find people, after the Towers collapsed. Praying for some sort of miracle, that people would have survived that. There were a few, like those fire fighters who helped that older woman (Josephine Harris) down the stairs because she couldn't walk, and that's what saved their lives. When the Tower collapsed, that part of the stairwell somehow didn't. All 14 people in it survived.
I remember when they pulled Mychal Judge (FDNY Chaplin) out of the rubble. He was dead. So sad.
(c) James Nachtwey
Bush with his, "I can hear you, the rest of the world can hear you
and the people who knocked these buildings down
will hear all of us soon!" to the fire fighters of NYC. I actually liked Bush for a minute after that, because his bravado is what the country needed at that moment. My affection didn't last long when he and his administration manipulated people's fear for their own agenda, lied and said 'trust us, we have proof about WMDs' but then never supplied them, and influenced congress to go after the man who insulted his daddy and who had nothing to do with al Qaeda or bin Ladin.
Suspending air travel. Discussions of why the towers - symbols of capitalism. Brokaw calling the United States the most powerful country in the world.
(c)James Nachtwey
I remember, on the third day, it rained. And Chad talked about that at church, how he felt like that it was God crying because of all those people that were dead. And crying because of how hard those men worked to try to find somebody. For nothing.
(c) James Nachtwey
And I remember thanking God, because I know he was there, with those people, before they died. I know he was there, helping them to feel some comfort. If you listen to the tapes, you don't hear screams of terror, even right before the end. And I'm grateful that God gave them that peace.
A friend of my friend, Shawna, was in the South Tower. When the North Tower was hit, they started evacuating the South Tower. And then they gave the 'all clear,' so she and her co-workers started to head back upstairs. They all, all but her, climbed into the elevator, but something told her not to get on. They were waiting, all impatiently, and she hesitated. And then the South Tower was struck and the cable of the elevator was cut. It dropped to the ground and everyone in the elevator died. I believe that something that held her back was God.
And God kept the Towers mostly empty - there should have been more people in them. On any given day, there were usually about 50,000 people in or around the Towers. But people were at meetings or late for work or something like that. Ian Thorpe, the Thorpedo, swimmer extraordinaire, was supposed to be on top of one of the Towers when it was hit, but he and his friends weren't, because he forgot his camera back at the hotel. You might want to wonder why people were there at all, or how God 'chose' the people that died that day, but I don't try to understand, because I don't see the big picture of all eternity, nor am I working to make sure that the most people get to heaven. I just focus on how God was there and how much he spared folks.
And I cry for the rescue dogs that burned their paws, or breathed toxic fumes and died, or later developed cancer because of everything they snuffed in. I cry for them, because they didn't hesitate, ever.
I remember all the people that swarmed to give blood. And how people decided to start displaying flags. To show the terrorists that they didn't break us.
And the uproar at KOMU because the station manager stupidly didn't want to allow the anchors to wear flag pins. I understand his reasons for doing it: to deliver the news "as free from outside influences as possible" and that "news broadcasts are not the place for personal statements of support for any cause... no matter how deserving the cause seems to be." But I think he was wrong - because patriotism isn't an external thing, and the idea of journalistic neutrality is a myth.
I remember stories of the polluted air (asbestos and toxic fumes), even though the EPA said it was safe, and the tragedy of Cantor Fitzgerald. And how now, people like my cousin, Mark, who was stationed at the Armory in NYC and who breathed the air while looking for survivors and then the dead, how they're starting to develop lung problems because of it. Here's another article about the air problems.
(c)James Nachtwey
(c)James Nachtwey
I also remember that Christmas driving by the broken Pentagon, snapping a picture.
I was surprised that the French brothers' documentary, that originally started out as a piece on a rookie firefighter and turned into an emotional window to the moments of the day, wasn't shown today. You get to see those brave men go up the stairs, head to their deaths, to hear the noise of the bodies hitting the ground, and the fear that was there when the Towers collapsed. And I cry every time I watch it (more than once), even though I know that both brothers survived, when they're reunited because it's so emotional. If you haven't seen it, I would highly recommend it.
And to this day, I still tell fire fighters and police officers, "Thank you." Because just like those people who died that day, they would risk their life for me in a second. And that deserves a 'thank you.'
(c)James Nachtwey
(c)James Nachtwey
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