Friday, September 11, 2009

Postcard from the Edge

It is strange to think how a quiet Tuesday morning can start with your biggest worry being the fact that your roommate took too loooooong in the shower finishing all the hot water and making you late for work. As the day progresses, this concern completely evaporates as you wonder if you will ever get to shower again. You are also griped with panic and fear that the very roommate you were snappy with earlier in the morning over a shower, may be buried under the rubble of her work building. As night falls, you are still coming to terms with the very bitter realisation that the world is not a kind place after all.


We did survive that day and the months that came after. My roommates, our friends, coworkers and families all managed to pull through. New York survived. The city was completely shaken but bounced back more resilient, more vibrant and (strangely) friendlier. But not everyone was so fortunate. Over 3,000 people perished as result of the September 11 attacks. It took just one fateful day to change the world forever. Eight years on, I'm still in awe and still lost for words at the complete senselessness of the event. I'm also trying to remember what New York was like before 11 September 2001 and then I find a reminder in a drawer at home. A postcard:

Postcard from the Edge...of Manhattan: The New York Skyline at night before 11 September 2001 with the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center seen clearly


We laughed, we cried, we fought but we were there for each other. The dear roommates from Steinway Street, Astoria, Queens
(Left to Right ) Nabyna, Wendita, (Me) & Laurena
I just hope they don't kill me for publishing this picture online

4 comments:

Edward of PathGhana said...

9-11 is a day the World will never forget. No matter how long it takes. The effects changed the way the world thinks and acts. Ouch!!

ImageNations said...

was at KNUST and had come home for vacation. saw it on TV. How pathetic...yet how senseless some actions are...

LAB said...

I'm sure every single person can remember what they were doing, on that faithful day.

I had just made it to art class(high school)...ready to complete my project, a charcoal and chalk portrait, on that faithful day.

I can't help but wonder on most days when I pass by the Pentagon on my way to work via the Metro what it would have been like, on that faithful day.

The first couple of days were a blur, trying to figure out what just happened, after that faithful day.

Eight years later and I still dont have the guts to watch any documentaries regarding what happened, on that faithful day.

9/11 - My prayers to all the families of the victims.

Abena Serwaa said...

@Edward of PathGhana: Indeed, no single event in the past 10 years has shaped American foreign policy and thus world policy, international sense of safety and security or even how different religions interact.

@Nana F-A: I totally agree. It was completely senseless to me then and now. I have never believed that violence can be used in any way shape or form to make any point.

@LAB: My thoughts and prayers do go out to the families of the victims as well. Just reading your comment made me realise that the days immediately following 9-11 are a complete blur. We were all shaken and in disbelief. I do remember that none of us went to work on Wednesday or Thursday. We stayed at home with news only from one channel because the television station antennas were all on the World Trade Center. I think Friday we ventured into Manhattan but it is all blurry...