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fire and steel

fire and steel

My cousin Stan (remember him, the fireman?) brought my father a gift today. It is a metal cross on a base, made of steel from a beam from the remains of the World Trade Center. A friend of his had made a few and passed them out to people who helped out at the site.

I ran my fingers across the discolored metal. It was rough and heavy and parts of it flaked beneath my fingers. My mind could not reconcile that piece of worn steel with the towers that used to be part of the New York skyline.

I imagined that the energy of every person that died that day was captured inside of something I held in my very own hands. I could not hold onto it any longer. I put it down and cried. More than six months later, I cried, again.

Posted by on April 3, 2002 06:27 PM |

Comments

that's a powerful image. It's perfectly understandable.

Six months is not a long time. Given my current perception of time, six months is like yesterday.

Posted by: chris | April 3, 2002 08:24 PM

I just got the chills.

I can only imagine that feeling.

Posted by: erika | April 3, 2002 10:08 PM

shiver

i understand. i'd react the same way.

Posted by: kd | April 4, 2002 01:14 AM

I would react the same way as well. You never fail to yank my heart with your words....very well (and powerfully) written... Saying "I'm sorry" just doesn't seem to be enough.

Posted by: robyn | April 4, 2002 02:52 AM

very powerful emotions indeed... next month we get to travel back to Long Island and visit my cousin and her husband whose cousin is still one of the missing NYFD firefighters... everyday I think about not only his family but all of the families involved that day...

and for the crying... I imagine that allot of people will be crying for a much longer time to come...

Posted by: Frank | April 4, 2002 08:19 AM

All your entries are worthy of comment, but I try to reserve them for the ones that touch me the deepest.

You have an amazing gift.

Posted by: JEfromCanada | April 4, 2002 04:15 PM

At Union Station here in DC, there is (was?) a memorial on display in the waiting area which bore a striking resemblance to the damage at the WTC site. Rusty, twisted I-beams rising from a mound of rubble adorned with photos and cards and letters. At the top, an American flag, flapping in the wind from an air conditioning duct.

None of the beams actually came from the WTC site, but I was brought to tears looking at it.

Posted by: Fredo | April 4, 2002 09:32 PM