Writing Boots

On communication, professional and otherwise.

The beauty of 9/11

09.11.2009 by David Murray // 2 Comments

Working out just now in front of MSNBC's real-time replay of NBC's live coverage on Sept. 11, 2001, I kept fighting off this inappropriate feeling of longing.

As the white-gray smoke drifted across the blue sky off the south tip of Manhattan that morning, Americans may not have known what was going wrong exactly or what was needed—remember, people sent millions of dollars to the Red Cross, which didn't know what to do with it?—but we all agreed that there was a problem and that it was urgent.

People often allow nostalgia to creep into their voice when they remember the JFK funeral, and even Pearl Harbor.

It was terrible; but we were going through it together, and we remember that sense of comfort, too.

Categories // Uncategorized Tags // 9/11, MSNBC, NBC, nostalgia

Comments

  1. Wendi Nichols says

    September 11, 2009 at 10:45 am

    For me, of all the 9/11 memories I have, the one that is most poignant is the charred piece of business correspondence that landed in the wisteria bush in my Brooklyn backyard. We were downwind of the site for the 100 days it burned.

    Reply
  2. David Murray says

    September 11, 2009 at 10:50 am

    Wendi, that’s my cue to add that I doubt this sneaking nostalgia applies to those who were in New York at the time, or in Washington.
    Experience elsewhere was all on TV, though I remember my wife calling me from her school, where they couldn’t get a TV up and running.
    “We just heard a rumor the Sears Tower is down.”
    “Hold on, let me look. No, it’s still up. …”

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Now Available

An Effort to Understand

Order Now

SIGN UP TO RECEIVE BLOG UPDATES

About

David Murray writes on communication issues.
Read More

 

Categories

  • Baby Boots
  • Communication Philosophy
  • Efforts to Understand
  • Happy Men, and Other Eccentrics
  • Human Politicians
  • Mister Boring
  • Murray Cycle Diaries
  • Old Boots
  • Rambling, At Home and Abroad
  • Sports Stories
  • The Quotable Murr
  • Typewriter Truths
  • Uncategorized
  • Weird Scenes Inside the Archives

Archives

Copyright © 2023 · Log in

  • Preorder An Effort to Understand
  • Sign Up for Blog Updates
  • About David Murray