Midnight Oil

[Powderworks] Ground Zero, VNMOC, very long also

Jeff McLean jeffmof@replicant.apana.org.au
Fri, 26 Oct 2001 08:03:42 +1000


hi randy,

that was a very powerful and wonderful piece - thanks for that.  you put
me right there, and i know i would feel much of what you were saying.
that pier scene was really strong....

however, please - and i beg all of us to do this - please look at what
our troops are now doing.

we are hearing reports nearly every day about 'this was the biggest
shelling yet'.  the POOR afghanis!  the    VAST MAJORITY are innocent -
in blowing the f*** out of them, we have made the decision that they, as
people, are not as important as TRYING to get at a man we may never be
able to capture.

why have i heard NOT ONE WORD about sympathy for these poor people's
plight?  they are walking their streets (if they can get anywhere near
them) and seeing possibly worse devastation.  worse than new york.

i have been through these regions for months.  these people are
beautiful - peaceful - loving - and would literally have themselves
killed to support a guest.  they give to an incomprehensible, level in
comparison with us.

and all i hear from our (somewhat understandably) bitter minds is that
the afghanis are substandard humans, that can't shave, can't dress, wear
those "stupid" turbans, can't get their priorities right, and are
war-mongering savages....it makes me want to scream when i turn on the
news, listen in the lunchroom, look at those pro-west, sanctimonious,
self-righteous bloody e-mails.

just now (as i expected) i have heard that donald rumsfeld (mr.
faaaaaaaar right) believes that our ability to get osama is not
necessarily possible.  how long will the insanity continue.

no!  how long will the killing of afghanis like us continue.

how long will we continue to inflict devastation upon the one's that
will be left living, like you randy, who can walk through kandahar and
herat and see what may happen to them in a few days.

God help our sense of perspective.

God help  the Afghanis.

God help the Muslims.

Jeff

Randy Van Vliet wrote:

> I'm from California and business took me to the east
> coast.  Last night I visited Lower Manhattan, “Ground
> Zero” for the Sept 11 terrorist attack.  Colleen asked
> me over the phone how it was and I couldn’t explain it
> so I had to write about it.  Sorry, but it’s probably
> going to be long.   If you don’t want to read this,
> feel free to delete it.
>
> Approaching Newark Airport, you cross southern NY and
> about at the Tappan Zee Bridge (north of the Palisades
> and Yonkers) you turn south and follow the West bank
> of the Hudson to the airport.  If you are sitting on
> the left of the plane, as I was, you have a nice view
> of the NY skyline as you land.  Because I was looking
> for it, I really noticed that the WTC was not there.
> If you see New York every day you would certainly
> notice, but if you are visiting and aren’t looking for
> it, you might not notice the hole in the skyline.
> Lower Manhattan has it’s share of skyscrapers and one
> or two less doesn’t lesson the impact that you are
> looking at the financial center of the world.  Driving
> north to Hoboken to take the Path train into the city,
> it was easier to notice the hole in the skyline but,
> again, if you hadn’t seen it every day or weren’t
> looking for it, you likely wouldn’t notice that it was
> missing.  From Path I got on the subway and the
> closest I could get was the Chambers/Church stop.  It
> is one block west of Broadway even with City Hall.
> Church street is closed so you have to walk east to
> Broadway and then south.  I arrived about 6:30 so it
> was just getting dark.  From Church street you can see
> the work site (you’re about 8 blocks or so away) and I
> noticed the dust and smoke and lots of light.  Turning
> east to Broadway and then south, all of the streets
> west are blocked off and NYPD is on site to restrict
> people like me who would walk straight up to the
> bulldozers.  At first, it seemed like not a big deal,
> all I could see was the lights from the work site.
> I’m walking south along Broadway and there is
> scaffolding on the side walk but that’s everywhere in
> New York.  Across the street is City Hall park and it
> seems like a fairly normal Autumn night in the city.
> Until I got to Fulton Street.  South of Fulton is
> where Lower Manhattan gets real old with narrow and
> irregular streets.  It was then that I noticed the
> dust and smoke in the air.  I had noticed a few people
> wearing nurses masks and such and I’m thinking
> “wimps”.  But now I understand.  You can feel the dust
> and stuff in your throat.  As you go further south,
> you can see more and more, and the dust becomes more
> irritating.
> A few more blocks is St. Peter’s Chapel, an Episcopal
> church.  They have converted into a rescue/relief
> worker aid station, providing coffee, hot meals, a
> place to rest, etc.  From that point south, you can
> see every kind of tribute imaginable.  There are the
> usual candles, flags, flowers, teddy bears, etc. but
> there also are many community/school tributes sent in
> from all over the world.  I noticed tributes from all
> regions of the US plus several foreign countries.  One
> of the most moving was hand prints from a school in
> Virginia I think.  The entire school gave the rescue
> workers “high fives”.  I noticed some from what looked
> to be very poor sections of Africa, Asia, and South
> America.  There really is a global effort here.  Then
> at Cedar street you can see the most eastward building
> of the WTC.  It’s about 5 stories now and just a mess
> of twisted steel.  From the corner of Broadway and
> Pine you can get a glimpse about 3 stories or so of
> the North Tower façade.  This is the way that I have
> seen the WTC most (from AIG’s side of town).  There is
> what appears to be a large public plaza but it’s
> really the void where the buildings used to be.  At
> Wall street is Trinity church, an Episcopal church
> chartered in 1697.  The building was damaged so it is
> closed.  Next to it is the Church Cemetery which is
> still covered in dust and debris on some areas, about
> 1 inch thick in places.  The trees still looked white
> from all the dust on the leaves.
> Turning West at Rector Street you can walk down by the
> where the trucks are coming and going.  Looking up
> Washington Street is where it really started to hit
> me.  I saw the “full” façade that I had glimpsed
> earlier.  Just standing there, leaning at a crazy
> angle, about 100 feet long by about 30-40 feet high.
> That’s all that’s left of two 110 story buildings!  I
> felt like Obi Wan Kenobe when Alderan was destroyed.
> He felt as though “voices were crying out and were
> suddenly silent”.  Over 5,000 people died here, most
> of them instantly.  I’m there watching them remove the
> rubble truck by truck.  It made me think a little of
> Uncle Gary’s plane when it crashed, all that was left
> of a B-52 could fit into two dumpsters.  All that is
> left of WTC is being trucked out, bit by bit.  It
> started to make me think of the destructive power that
> we all have (or could have) if we were not rational,
> disciplined people.  To desire to cause such mass
> destruction must certainly be wrong.  I really had to
> check myself and make a conscious decision to not be
> hateful.
> Walking back up Broadway I noticed some things I had
> missed.  There were people at almost every
> intersection observing.  Almost all of them were very
> respectful, almost reverential.  I also noticed by St.
> Peter’s Chapel there is a row of Porta-Pottys.
> Nothing new there, but there were many flyers advising
> out of town workers and volunteers where to find room
> and board, sometimes in private homes.  There was also
> many grade school age drawings thanking all the rescue
> workers, one for “cleaning up the terrorist mess”.
> There still are many missing persons flyers hoping to
> find loved ones.  One in particular was from
> grandparents looking for their 20 something
> grand-daughter who worked on the 96th floor.  There’s
> a lot of people feeling a lot of loss here.  I also
> noticed a few stores along Broadway that hadn’t been
> reopened.  One was a Hallmark that had all of the
> stuffed animals spilled out onto the floor as well as
> the calendar stand.  There was a pet bed with some
> food there by the door and a note that if you saw the
> cat to please call so the owner could be reunited.
> There was another shop that had display windows and a
> recessed entry.  The display window had broken and you
> could see the shards on the ground behind the grate
> with several layers of dust piled on.  It looked
> almost like a dry lake bed with the cracking.
> Now I start looking for a place for dinner.  I go into
> Greenwich Village and Tribeca and I noticed three
> things.  One, many shops and restaurants are closed,
> most seemingly recently.  Two, there are signs
> thanking people for pulling together and helping their
> neighbors.  Three, there bust be a real need for
> merchants union of some sort because there were flyers
> up for the Tribeca Merchants Organization meeting next
> week to find out how to rebuild.  This has hit not
> only the WTC but the small local restaurants and
> shops.  I don’t know the extent of it, but this will
> really affect the “everyman” of New York all the way
> down to the service industries.  I say an election
> campaign ad on TV with the guy saying he was one of
> the little people hurt in the tragedy and he was in a
> better position than his opponent to understand and
> help others.  It was kind of spooky watching him say
> he cares more than the other guy when it usually is
> just mudslinging.
> Maybe the biggest surprise was back in Hoboken.
> Hoboken is right there on the river and there is a
> ferry to the city.  There is a nice public park on the
> pier and on a whim I decided to walk out to the end.
> There is a huge shrine there with a huge flag and a
> big “America Stands Firm” banner.  When you look to
> the city, Lower Manhattan is a blaze of light.  It
> almost is like searchlights.  I wasn’t ready for that.
>
> Later, I was talking to a friend of mine who lives in
> the city and he made the observation that in
> California, we live under the threat of Earthquake
> every day so we are somewhat prepared to deal with
> disaster.  That’s true, there have been natural
> disasters that were worse than this, but those were
> natural.  This was a deliberate act meant to create
> havoc and terror.  Once again I find myself fighting
> my urge to be hateful.
> Overall, I have very mixed emotions.  I am very glad
> that I went, but I now am carrying some sorrow.  Once
> I walked around a bit and felt the mood, I seem caught
> up in it.  Just about every emotion is out there.
> Fear, anger, resentment, resilience, teamwork, etc.
> Hopefully I can bring it back and become a better
> person for it.
> One thing that I have come back with is a healthy
> respect for the fragile thread of doom that we all
> exist on.  I’m sure that not one person in New York
> went to work that morning thinking “well, today is
> going to be the end of the world”.  I think many
> people take life for granted.  Someday our frail lives
> will end, probably not the way we would choose to go.
> I find myself wondering what would happen to me if I
> was suddenly taken.  I have always thought about death
> as far away, that I would have time to put my affairs
> in order and prepare myself to meet Heavenly Father.
> What if I don’t?  What would I have to answer for?
> Would I receive the reward that I think I am working
> toward?  Maybe yes, maybe no.  I find myself thinking
> back to that great orator George W. (ok, a little
> sarcasm) when he said people were asking what they
> could do and all he could say was to hug your kids.
> That’s kind of the way I feel now.  (Insert sermon
> here).  Anyway, take a good look at yourself and see
> what you’re up to.
> Sorry this was so long and introspective, but I had to
> get it out.
>
> Randy
>
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