By B.L. Ochman
Twelve years. 4,380 days. To many people, it’s just another day. Because they either weren’t there or didn’t lose anyone.
Sorry, but those people are pissing me off today.
Despite the politics, greed and misinformation that surrounds 9/11, its anniversary is, at the core, a day when loss must be respected and remembered.
I lost several hours of that awful day. My brain apparently just shut off after it counted a few dozen jumpers, saw and heard the horrific sounds of the building burning and then falling, and rushed through the darkness brought on by the hurricane of debris.
I’ve since learned that amnesia caused by trauma has a name: dissociative amnesia.
The memory of the hours between about 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. hasn’t come back – except for one detail. And I guess, and, at this point, I hope, that it never will.
What I do remember is all the ways people helped each other and the beautiful ways so many reached out to me.
Because the memory that puts on top is that, given the chance, people are good and they want to do the right thing.
Love to you and yours,
B.L.
Thinking of you today, BL.
Thanks Donna! I wanted to have this be just another day. But it’s not.
Me too B.L. Sending you lots of hugs and grateful that our paths have crossed. A day to remember not to forget.
Thinking of you, BL, and admiring how you’ve coped. BIG hugs, my defiant friend. :)
Thank you John. I am eternally grateful for the help you gave me when I needed it most.
You rock my friend!
Thinking of that day myself, reliving my own experience of it from 14th Street and Union Square. I always think of you when I think of September 11, knowing how terrible your experience was being right in the middle of it. Sending you lots of love.
Thank you Karen. Lots of love is just the ticket today :)