Is it just Me, or do you, too, find it so hard to believe we are about to commemorate twelve years since the 911 attacks in the United States?
Last week, I had cause to visit my old parish church in Manhasset, New York. Always appreciative of the opportunity to visit the church from which I and all my siblings received the sacraments, graduated elementary and high school; the church in which my two sisters and I were married, where I spoke publicly for the first time on the occasion of my brother’s Ordination into the Priesthood, the church from which that brother said the Mass of Resurrection for our oldest brother and our parents,, the church in which I saw nieces and nephews baptized…the church in which I witnessed the first memorial service of a 911 victim and a second one at which my oldest nephew eulogized a 24 year-old classmate who perished that day…the church at which plaques hang in memory of 36 parishioners, from one small town, who lost their lives on September 11, 2001…yes, it HAS been 12 years!
In seeing those plaques, I started to wonder about the numbers that define the unthinkable that, in a moment, became reality; they are daunting:
1 - beautiful Tuesday morning of blue skies; the kind of day that makes you realize the beauty around you
2 - buildings, 2 hours
3 - a third plane; American Airline Flt 77; 3 staircases
4 - coordinated attacks; a 4th plane, United Flt 93
8 - EMT's and Paramedics from private agencies killed
10 - buildings surrounding The World Trade Center that were also destroyed
11 - American Airlines Flt 11
19 - hijackers
23 - members of New York’s Finest; the NYC Police Department, killed
37 - members of the Port Authority Police Department, killed
55 - military personnel who were killed at The Pentagon
77 - American Airline Flt 77
90 - countries who lost civilians in the attack
93 - United Flt 93, whose passengers overtook the hijackers and crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania
107 - deaths in the South Tower below the point of impact
110 - stories in the building; 110 flights of stairs
125 - lives lost at The Pentagon
175 - United Airlines Flight
200 - souls estimated to have jumped to their deaths to escape the flames and smoke of the burning Towers
227 - civilians aboard the 4 planes; victims and heroes
340 - members of New York City’s Bravest, the NYC Fire Departments: firefighters, chaplain and paramedics: dead
411 - total emergency workers killed
658 - employees from just one company, Cantor Fitzgerald, including their CEO
1122 - 41% of The World Trade Center victims who remain unidentified
1255 - persons at or above the point of impact trapped
1631 - identified victims from The World Trade Center
1776 - feet (541km) into the air: the height of Freedom Tower
2997 - declared dead in the Towers
6000 - total deaths confirmed weeks after the attacks
10000 - unidentified human remains
It was 1 day: a beautiful Tuesday morning in September.
There wasn't a cloud in the sky.
It was the kind of day that made you realize the beauty around you.
No comments:
Post a Comment