I remember 9/11. I was having phone sex with a woman from Chicago that I was seeing and I had just come back from Chicago to Los Angeles the night before. I was on the phone with her…and we were doing what people do…we were doing what we do when we are in love long distance…and then she said to me, “Turn on the T.V…” and I did. And the towers were collapsing. Jesus.
Days later I remember all of us lighting candles all across the city and coming together…it was such an incredible time of coming together and then it got ugly and full of war.
I remember all these images of people at first “being there” for us in the U.S.—even Native Islanders in Papua New Guinea singing and playing I think a conch shell and then it got ugly and full of war.
I remember standing in front of my Southern California apartment with the 25 other apartments arranged around a pool with my candle lit and I remember singing. “Go to the very edge where the summer ends and something else begins. Something else begins,” a song of renewal from my Wiccan circle sung at the changing of the wheel at Equinox.
I remember going to a lecture at Claremont and Dr. Marjorie Suchocki talking about process thought and asking, “Where is God in 9/11? God is with the people who fight back. Who helped each other.” The priest and the firefighter who do what priests and firefighters do. They went back into the buildings and rescued people. Cared for people. Gave last rites. I remember being at a Wiccan Ritual at this time, the turning of the year, two weeks after 9/11 and an older woman statuesque with bright white long hair saying “We are witches. We will do what witches do.” What should we do? How can we help? We are witches. We will do what witches do. Heal. Tend. Nurture. Bless.
That’s all any of us can do. What we must do. As artists, as doctors, as mothers, as students, as teachers…we do what we do to the best of what we do – that’s what we do. It takes the memory of 9/11 to remind us why we go the extra mile. For me, that is answering all the student e-mails, doing the research to create the new learning unit, staying up way past midnight –-again—processing all the add/drops so students do not lose their financial aid when their classes have been dropped …so students can get into my class, any class, if that is the option they have to stay in school. But it is not the extra mile, right? It is living as if we go the extra mile because it is how we do things. We do things because we do things because it is what we do. The world is a better place because we live here.
This is not just the small space of here, it is the large space of here, not just my small family, but the huge family, and not just my tribe of friends, Facebook and otherwise, but all of the people here that I am taking the journey with…all of us spinning on this blue planet….the Native Islanders blowing a conch shell for the Americans who were grieving. For me at that time spending hours trying to get through to New York, to my brother, who lived in the Village but how did I know that he was not visiting that section of New York at that time? I did not know. I did not know for so long. And they were blowing the conch shells for me—because that is what they do. I am not a Native Islander, not even a New Yorker, I am a Californian…but I was part of that energy transference. I knew they were playing for me as I dialed and dialed my brother’s number.
Yes, “we are the world,” as the lyrics sing. And in the coming election—to paraphrase another oft quoted phrase—“Yes, we can.”
Yes we can; if we do what we do– because it is what we do– and we continue to do it. We do what we do because it is what we do: and in difficult times, we roll up our sleeves and do what we do.
“Hope is a dangerous thing,” says Andy Dufrane in Shawshank Redemption, as he digs himself out of prison. As we remember 9/11 this month, and how we did what we did because we are who we are, let us re-attach ourselves to hope. Hope for a better world as this election draws closer. Hope—it’s a dangerous thing.
Oh, yes, we can.
Marie Cartier is a teacher, poet, writer, healer, artist, and scholar. She holds a BA in Communications from the University of New Hampshire; an MA in English/Poetry from Colorado State University; an MFA in Theatre Arts (Playwriting) from UCLA; an MFA in Film and TV (Screenwriting) from UCLA; and an MFA in Visual Art (Painting/Sculpture) from Claremont Graduate University. She is also a first degree black belt in karate, Shorin-Ryu Shi-Do-Kan Kobayashi style. Ms. Cartier has a Ph.D. in Religion with an emphasis on Women and Religion from Claremont Graduate University.
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I remember when 9/11 happened; I was young and in Jr. High. I never understood the situation but all I remember was America in tragedy and then the word “terrorism”. My teacher in Jr. High looked freaked out and everyone just had their eyes locked on the news. It wasn’t until I started college that I began to critically analyze many situations. I never did this in High School, at least not for these kinds of situations. All I remember from after the 9/11 attacks was how many people got together and created a space where they could all grieve, love, understand, and support each other. Then right after everyone was angry. Anger was transformed into hatred, to terrorism.
P.S. When I read your article I definitely read it in a poetic way. The Native Islanders themselves could even blow their conch shells to this article upon reading it because it sounds so melodic. Nice!
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I can vaguely remember where I was and what I was doing during 9/11. I was in 4th grade sitting at my dining room table eating breakfast when my parents turned on the news and was devastated. The next thing I remember was sitting at my desk in my class room listening to my teacher explain what was going on. Immediately all I could think of was my friend that I made in summer school who was moving to New York. I didn’t know what part of New York she moved to, but I was very nervous that it was in the city where the terrorist attack was. Just like you said, you had no idea if your brother was safe or not, I had no idea if my friend was safe. I remember emailing her, but I never got a response. I know I was just a little kid at the time, I may have written down her email address wrong, but thinking about it now, I really do hope she was not near the city. I was too young to appreciate anything that was going on in respect of 9/11, but now I can finally realize how poetic it was especially the Native Islander and their conch shells. Thank you so much for sharing with us your experience during the 9/11 tragedy.
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Although 9/11 happened 11 years ago, I definitely remember the reaction everyone around me had that day. There was a sudden frozen reaction that I saw my teacher, fellow students, had. I wasn’t too familiar about the twin towers or how important that site/location was until we watched the news about the terrorist attack. I was in shock and didn’t realize the impact until later on that day when I watched the news more and saw so many people’s lives were taken and their families’ affected and broken because of their this sudden attack to their loved ones living in New York in that area. It was very tragic and a loss of so many people at once is very overwhelming, I believe that day became the starting point of America coming together in strength, hope, and improvement in lending a helping hand or ear.
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I was only seven on 9/11 , but I remember seeing the devastation among my family. The thought of what happened on 9/11 is sobering and a true tragedy. Through this hardship, I believe that God used this tragedy for the good of Americans. As you said, everyone did what they did best. The selflessness that this country held at that time was astonishing and admirable. The way we pulled together with a unwavering sense of unity, I have never witnessed and I don’t think we’ll ever witness that kind of strength and unity within my lifetime. It is awe-inspiring.
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I remember the morning of 9/11 as though it was yesterday. I was in 8th grade. I was just waking up and walked downstairs to my parent’s bedroom, like I did every morning. My parents started screaming. I jumped on their bed and didn’t really understand what was happening. I remember my parents being in shock and I kept asking them “why is that building on fire?” “why are people running and crying?” I ended up being a few hours late to school but the classroom TVs were on mute all day. The teachers tried to explain what was happening but honestly, I don’t think I fully understood the meaning until a few months afterwards. Lately it has been the east coast storm Sandy that has America coming together and donating to. . It’s interesting that it takes a huge catastrophe to bring people together and I am still asking “why?”
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I remember the morning of 9/11 very vividly. My brother and I were getting ready for school, and my mom was unpacking our luggages, because we had just returned home from a trip to NY visiting my mom’s family. As she would every morning, my mother had turned on the morning news, and all of a sudden we saw breaking news and it showed the twin towers. it was around 6:15am and our house phone wouldn’t stop ringing. All of my moms family members were calling to let us know they were okay, and if any one called to let them know because they weren’t able to call anyone within the tristate area. I couldn’t believe the buildings I had so many memories at, going to work with one of my mom’s cousins, wouldn’t be there the next time we went to New York. Its been 11 years, yet I get sad every time I remember, or see anything that reminds me of the WTC. Even though we didn’t lose any immediate family members, a distant relative did end up getting trapped in the building because she was helping one of her coworkers,who was a new mom, escape. Its very sad that people usually come together only during sad times, and now after 11 years mostly show their “patriotism” a few days before the 9/11 anniversaries. I wish people would be as kind/respecting/caring of one another. as they were the few weeks and month right after the attack , all the time.
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I was nine on the morning of 9/11. I did not quite know what was going on, but i distinctly remember that everyone was in a state of shock. My teacher ( I was in elementary school) stood in class, eyes transfixed on the TV, forgetting we were even in class at all. My mom, who dropped me off at school tried to explain to me what was going on but I was more interested in finding my friends to play our games. After a few days of news watching, I started to understand the significance of the situation, that war would be coming, and that ugly times were ahead. Sure enough, people were flying out to the middle east for war, Baghdad was being bombed, people were dying, and the numbers kept rising. It was a crazy time in my life and in the history of our country, and I hope nothing that drastic happens again.
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