“It’s a lie. Any fool can blow something up- any fool can destroy, but to see these guys, these fire fighters, these policemen, and people from all over the country, literally with buckets, rebuilding, that- that’s extraordinary, and that’s why we’ve already won. Its light, its democracy, we’ve already won. We can’t shut that down. They live in chaos, and chaos can’t sustain itself, it never could. It’s too easy and it’s too unsatisfying… The view from my apartment was the World Trade Center. Now it's gone ... But you know what the view is now? The Statue of Liberty. The view from the south of Manhattan is the Statue of Liberty. You can’t beat that." ~Jon Stewart
Today I came across this clip from September 20, 2001 of the Daily Show. It brought me to tears as it carried with it a flood of memories of that day, and the days that followed the attacks. A few weeks after, I remember wondering if it was appropriate to smile, to laugh, and to get on with our lives. Honestly, I don’t remember how it happened, but slowly I did just that. We all did. The weight of what happened on 9/11 finally began to dissipate, but did it ever really go away altogether?
I am a writer, and I write about a global nuclear war and its aftermath. Some reviewers have hinted that maybe my books exhibit a bit of naiveté. To that, I remind you all about the incredible sacrifices so many people made to help others in the World Trade Center to get out of those buildings. Yes, the heroes were firefighters and police officers, but they were also ordinary- yet extraordinary- Americans and even non-citizens who helped other survive that day. And they helped in the days after, sifting through the rubble. Of course we cannot forget those brave people onboard the plane that went down in the fields of Shanksville, PA. Those people made sure that their plane did not hit another building. How many lives did they save in sacrificing their own? We will never know.
And you ask why I would dare portray characters who trust each other, who share all that they have left after the Last War with their neighbors. But I ask- why are so many people so cynical? Have you forgotten all of the good in humanity that was revealed during those difficult days?
“Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart.” ~Anne Frank
I am a writer, and I write about a global nuclear war and its aftermath. Some reviewers have hinted that maybe my books exhibit a bit of naiveté. To that, I remind you all about the incredible sacrifices so many people made to help others in the World Trade Center to get out of those buildings. Yes, the heroes were firefighters and police officers, but they were also ordinary- yet extraordinary- Americans and even non-citizens who helped other survive that day. And they helped in the days after, sifting through the rubble. Of course we cannot forget those brave people onboard the plane that went down in the fields of Shanksville, PA. Those people made sure that their plane did not hit another building. How many lives did they save in sacrificing their own? We will never know.
And you ask why I would dare portray characters who trust each other, who share all that they have left after the Last War with their neighbors. But I ask- why are so many people so cynical? Have you forgotten all of the good in humanity that was revealed during those difficult days?
“Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart.” ~Anne Frank
RSS Feed
