Letter to Karl Rove
In response to Karl Rove's indictment of all liberals on 9/11, New Democratic Majority asked members to share our stories of that day. Here is mine:
On the morning of 9/11, I had a job interview scheduled in the World Trade Center and was sleeping in. My husband came rushing in to the bedroom, said the towers were on fire, and turned on the television. Because we were living in Hoboken at the time, I could look out my window at my former workplace and glimpse the top of the twin towers. Neither one of us had seen the planes hit and had no idea that this was a terrorist act until the news showed the Pentagon in flames as well and replayed the plane crashes in New York. At first, like so many others, we were in shock and then desperately tried to get in touch with people we knew who worked there. I watched the towers fall from my window and to reflect on that most vivid memory today brings tears to my eyes. I still remember the stillness of that day - the clear blue skies interrupted only by the column of thick black smoke spiraling out of downtown. The hurt and the horror were so profound, people who have lived in and loved New York all felt a deep sense of violation, grief, and outrage. And I will always remember that smell, the smell of burning plastic, flesh, and metal, that permeated the streets of New York and Hoboken for weeks and weeks. Even though I knew no one who died in the attacks, I hardly spoke for the next week and often cried. Our entire beloved city was in mourning.
We moved back to New York shortly after 9/11 and through some people still talked of a "different attitude," mostly I noticed that we New Yorkers, always a hearty variety of Americans, had returned to our lives, perhaps with a renewed sense of purpose and respect for the city that had given us all so much and suffered so greatly. Though many of us wanted to punish the individuals and groups responsible for attacking us and killing so many innocent people, we also wanted to understand the hatred from which these desperate acts sprung, not to console the attackers but to prevent more from coming and doing even greater harm. And after knowing the pain of having your buildings and your fellow citizens crushed under the weight of some other people's anger, we were hesitant to inflict the same pain without absolute certainty.
New York is the essence of America. Ellis Island is the point of origin for many American families. We are the great melting pot, the cauldron of nations, the world's second home. To call us unpatriotic in our hour of need, because we did not want to become like our attackers, because we act from a place of reason and justice rather than jingoism and vengeance, is grotesquely libelous on the part of people like Karl Rove. I am not going to say he's un-American for there have been many Americans who have used our fears as a weapon against us. And while we have been Karl Rove's America and may continue to be under the stewardship of him and others like him, there is a better America, one of proud diversity, constant innovation, equality of opportunity, and freedom of personal expression. That is our hoped-for, best-of America. That is New York.
On the morning of 9/11, I had a job interview scheduled in the World Trade Center and was sleeping in. My husband came rushing in to the bedroom, said the towers were on fire, and turned on the television. Because we were living in Hoboken at the time, I could look out my window at my former workplace and glimpse the top of the twin towers. Neither one of us had seen the planes hit and had no idea that this was a terrorist act until the news showed the Pentagon in flames as well and replayed the plane crashes in New York. At first, like so many others, we were in shock and then desperately tried to get in touch with people we knew who worked there. I watched the towers fall from my window and to reflect on that most vivid memory today brings tears to my eyes. I still remember the stillness of that day - the clear blue skies interrupted only by the column of thick black smoke spiraling out of downtown. The hurt and the horror were so profound, people who have lived in and loved New York all felt a deep sense of violation, grief, and outrage. And I will always remember that smell, the smell of burning plastic, flesh, and metal, that permeated the streets of New York and Hoboken for weeks and weeks. Even though I knew no one who died in the attacks, I hardly spoke for the next week and often cried. Our entire beloved city was in mourning.
We moved back to New York shortly after 9/11 and through some people still talked of a "different attitude," mostly I noticed that we New Yorkers, always a hearty variety of Americans, had returned to our lives, perhaps with a renewed sense of purpose and respect for the city that had given us all so much and suffered so greatly. Though many of us wanted to punish the individuals and groups responsible for attacking us and killing so many innocent people, we also wanted to understand the hatred from which these desperate acts sprung, not to console the attackers but to prevent more from coming and doing even greater harm. And after knowing the pain of having your buildings and your fellow citizens crushed under the weight of some other people's anger, we were hesitant to inflict the same pain without absolute certainty.
New York is the essence of America. Ellis Island is the point of origin for many American families. We are the great melting pot, the cauldron of nations, the world's second home. To call us unpatriotic in our hour of need, because we did not want to become like our attackers, because we act from a place of reason and justice rather than jingoism and vengeance, is grotesquely libelous on the part of people like Karl Rove. I am not going to say he's un-American for there have been many Americans who have used our fears as a weapon against us. And while we have been Karl Rove's America and may continue to be under the stewardship of him and others like him, there is a better America, one of proud diversity, constant innovation, equality of opportunity, and freedom of personal expression. That is our hoped-for, best-of America. That is New York.
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