MetaFilter - The Original 9/11 Thread, Plus Father's Note, Dropped From 84th Floor Of WTC
Via @SteveSilberman tweet:
The Net responds to the unimaginable.
Link to the posts is here. Note the link (no longer working) to "Palestinians in West Bank celebrate attacks on U.S."
Another commenter posts:
Palestinians dancing in the street, celebrating. Regardless of your world view, cheering this is barbaric.
And this is heartbreaking -- via @PaulHsieh -- a father and husband's note, which was given to the family 10 years later, changing their account of what happened to him at the WTC. From the Stamford Advocate, John Breunig writes a story that must have been hard to report (I'm tearing up just posting this):
STAMFORD, Conn. -- The note is just five words and two numbers.Randy Scott scrawled these five words and two numbers on a piece of paper on Sept. 11, 2001, while at work at Euro Brokers Inc. in the World Trade Center.
But if a picture is worth a thousand words, these five words and two numbers have changed the picture completely for Scott's family. Family members refer to it simply as "the note." The note that floated from the 84th floor of Two World Trade Center to chaotic streets below, and was tenderly preserved as it traveled from hand to hand and through time to reach them.
Denise Scott learned of her husband's message in August 2011, just weeks before the calendar marked a decade since he died in the World Trade Center's collapse.
For those 10 years, his family members believed he likely died instantly when United Airlines Flight 175 flew into the tower at 9:03 a.m., near the floors containing Euro Brokers offices.
...Randy Scott's daughters fought tears as his message again triggered new mental images.
In a steady tone, their mother explained the power of the note. "You don't want them to suffer. They're trapped in a burning building. It's just an unspeakable horror. And then you get this 10 years later. It just changes everything."
"84th floor
West Office
12 people trapped"
It is not these words alone that change the narrative of Randy Scott's final moments. The other content on the note is a dark spot, about the size of a thumbprint. It is Randy's blood, and the clue that eventually enabled the medical examiner's office to trace the source of the note through DNA tests and deliver it to his family a decade after he apparently tossed it from the 84th floor.
"Even from space, this view of 9/11 cries out," writes Andrew Malcolm, posting a NASA shot.
And Popehat has a post I appreciated on 10 things he'd like his kids to learn from 9/11.
Never. Forget.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_GwDYFxb8piY/SLLe5FCsFFI/AAAAAAAABlE/6aekxbvs9Ag/s400/jumper5.jpg
EVER.
Feebie at September 11, 2012 7:00 AM
I was in London on that day. At the restaurant that night an Arab family was celebrating, and the next day the Palestinians were out in the streets celebrating. I remember.
Eric at September 11, 2012 7:30 AM
I was working at our offices in Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia that day, not far from the Pentagon. Confusing and chaotic -- we'd even heard that the State Department was hit. Not true, of course, but we didn't know it then, and our admin assistant, whose husband worked at Foggy Bottom, was beside herself. I remember walking outside and looking into the sky and wondering if there was another plane up there, waiting.
It was still dark out when I got to work the next morning. I still remember the smell, like burning plastic, of the Pentagon, still smoldering a short distance away.
Old RPM Daddy at September 11, 2012 8:13 AM
I was working in Westport, CT that day. Saw the smoke when we went down to the Long Island Sound. Cried my eyes out. A lot of us left work early that day. Went home, found out most of the schools in the area were on lock down. Hadn't even heard about flight 93 yet. I lit candles and put them in the windows. Cried some more. For days. Then I got exceedingly pissed off. For many more days. I still am exceedingly pissed off. But many more things contribute to my anger that happened in the aftermath, especially the Patriot Act and the creation of the TSA.
I went down to Ground Zero on Oct 6th. We took a cab most of the way but had to get out and walk the last few blocks. Me, Joyce and Simon, whose uncle's ashes we scattered earlier that day in Central Park, near Strawberry Fields. The emotional impact was incredible. Barricades everywhere, people crying, looking for lost loved ones, cops crying, people still in walking around, still dazed. We went into the Lafayette Grill. Ordered drinks, and the maitre d' starting putting candles on the tables and the bar. Joyce and I picked a couple up and started carving messages of healing in them. "peace" "love" "hope" "understanding" "forgiveness" I just now remembered that, as I was typing this. Wandered back to Grand Central, got on the train, came home. I'm going down there on Friday to see Ian again. I think I'll go to Ground Zero again, too. It's been a while.
Flynne at September 11, 2012 9:21 AM
Compare & contrast.
Crid [Cridcomment at Gmail] at September 11, 2012 9:23 AM
I was in bed with a migraine that morning. My mom called to tell me the WTC was gone, and I said WTF mom, WTCs don't just vanish. And then I turned on the news.
The note described above made me tear up.
Meloni at September 11, 2012 11:26 AM
Reading the feed on MetaFilter made me shiver.
Did anyone read far enough down to see this comment?
my greatest fear is how our government is going to respond. more erosion of freedom in the name of security. mark my words.
posted by rebeccablood at 10:10 AM on September 11, 2001
flbeachmom at September 11, 2012 2:22 PM
Here's the link to Palestinians in West Bank celebrate attacks on U.S..
Crid [Cridcomment at Gmail] at September 11, 2012 3:55 PM
There will never be another 9/11 not so smart missile attack. At least not launched from within the U.S. And doubtfully from outside the U.S. as well.
I remember that morning and the confusion. A good montage of it is at Glenn Beck. Even if you just watch the first seven minutes. I heard it this morning and just listened again. It brought tears to my eyes.
This is our generations Pearl Harbor. We need to wrest acceptance of a multi-cultural U.S. back from the progressive left and say the standards in the U.S. are at a minimum the tolerance of other (or no) beliefs have to be accepted. You can have your ghetto, but if you don't want me to eat pulled pork, you can go to hell.
Jim P. at September 11, 2012 7:01 PM
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