Today I thought about five years ago and what I remembered most. And aside from the horror and the fear and the sadness, what I remember most is the silence.
I live near a flight path from Dulles Airport. About once every five minutes or so, a plane goes by, often loudly. At all times there are contrails in the sky.
Five years ago there was silence and the sky was an unbroken blue. The absence of plane engines, the absence of those straight white lines made me feel that even the sky was mourning.
At school today, I heard a lot of students ask why today isn't a national holiday, and it's a good question. But I think that a national holiday would devolve into what all national holidays are, an excuse for store-wide sales and barbeques.
Wouldn't it be a more fitting tribute if, one day every year, we grounded the airplanes? No flying ever again on 9/11. Bring back the reminder of the eerie silence, the unbroken blue, and the mourning sky.
Through My Glasses, Dorkily
13 years ago
6 comments:
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That is a good idea. I, too, remember the eerie silence around our house.
Yes, fitting.
And good point about National Holidays. Thanksgiving has managed to stay fairly family-oriented. For Christians, Easter seems to have stayed fairly religion-oriented, and for Jews Yom Kippur also seems (my impression as a non-Jew) to have remained religion-oriented. Christmas is a hodge-podge of greed, food, commercialism and family. But none of our country-oriented holidays has done a good job of escaping becoming Days of Electronics Acquirage and/or Beer-and-Red-Meat fests. An old co-worker of mine in New York thought that people should celebrate Martin Luther King Day by having gatherings to discuss Civic Duty.
Jim (posting as a Bear)
I did not notice that the planes were not flying as my heartbeat was deafening to me...
Beautiful. hugs.
I like your idea of grounding planes, but of course it would be totally impossible to actually do. You post made me think about my younger son who was just a few months shy of his 2nd birthday on 9/11/01. His favorite thing of all was to see an airplane fly over. He so missed seeing his beloved planes during those times. Thinking of those days of empty skies, and then of seeing that first plane back up proclaiming the start to the road to recovery makes my arms come up in goose bumps.
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