Justin - 9/11

About the writing

Part of the intention was to have this not punctuated, a kind of stream of consciousness. What I saw after the first pass was that it was hard to read. I added capitals to kind of make sentences. I think it’s still choppy and hard to read, but I don’t want this to become something other than the inner monologue it is supposed to be.

The other challenge was in keeping with that day and not tracing the fifteen years since. It is difficult not to trace that patriotic unity through the nationalistic fervor and polarizing politics that replaced it so quickly. That brings up what was emotionally the hardest part of this piece; it was not the remembering of our nation being attacked and the images of broken buildings and broken lives, but remembering where we were together and unified and seeing how quickly we deteriorated into our polarizing hate. The hardest part was imagining how we could have responded, how we did early on, and seeing where we are now.  I wonder if we can be so unified only when we are so broken.

9/11
That doesn’t sound right How could a plane hit one of the giant towers of the World Trade Center it must have been a small plane with an amateur pilot A second plane This was no accident I wish we had a TV here Shouldn't we be going home I don’t think this little bit of steel we are cutting justifies still being at work The boss says what are we going to do if we leave I don’t know get a better grasp on what’s happening see the news reports see what it means that a two planes hit the towers in New York Now the Pentagon Rumors even in this small shop flourish about other planes where they are heading what other targets there might be Going about the normal things I do on a normal day seems surreal  

Finally I see the images that others have seen all day The tower burning the second plane hitting The towers collapsing as ash and dust billowing in huge clouds in the streets of Manhattan People wander the streets like children lost in the supermarket We all seem a little lost They start showing walls of flyers pictures with notes Call me we are looking for you Let us know you are ok No one is ok NO one will be ok for a while But we are together All of us are together Lost Confused Together