No
boxing today.
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It's
five years since those bastards
attacked all Americans.
Where were you on that fateful
morning?
I live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. I was defending a young man in Brooklyn. His trial for attempted murder was going to begin with jury selection that gorgeous Indian summer day.
My subway train stopped briefly in the WTC area but nothing seemed amiss. I got to the Brooklyn Supreme Court about 9:30 a.m. By the time I got up to the 10th floor, where there are big glass windows looking over to the WTC, New York Harbor and the Statue of Liberty. I heard a commotion in the hallway. I went to the window and people said there was an accident, that one plane had hit the side of one of the towers. |
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I told the clerk I figured a government building might not be a safe haven right now so I told him I would look for the judge, prospective jurors and my client another day.
No boxing today. The streets of downtown Brooklyn were abuzz. Some people
had radios on in cars. Were we
at war? Was Manhattan attacked
like Pearl Harbor was on
December 7, 1941? Crazy thoughts
raced through the mind.
I went to the subway, planning to ride back to Manhattan. A cop told me the subway was shut down until further notice. I was drawn to the view from the Brooklyn Promenade, the site used by Woody Allen and so many movie makers. All you could see was smoke and fire across the water. Someone said people were jumping out windows.
The radio told us one tower had collapsed. It wasn't long after that the radio said a second tower had collapsed also. You couldn't see that from Brooklyn because of the thick smoke. But you knew it had to be true.
I tried to reach my mother and my brother on Cape Cod.
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No phones were working, either land lines or cell phones. In a state of panic, my brother told my mother he was sure I had been near the towers and that I was dead. My mother didn't have an immediate heart attack which was a real surprise.
Maybe they could use help beyond
the cops, firemen and EMT's who
raced to the disaster. I tried
to walk over the Brooklyn Bride
but naturally the cops had that
shut down as well. |
No boxing today. Around 5
pm, the "A" train was
in operation and that got me
back to my apartment. My cat,
Mister Broadway, was disturbed
but trying to play it cool. Cats
have fantastic hearing and those
planes went right over our
building. He could hear chaos on
the street. I was able to speak
my Mom, my brother and other
relatives
My TV set was broken and I left it broken for about three months. The radio was enough.
I didn't know any of these innocent victims personally, just a few people who were friends of friends or people I had seen around. The New York Times ran their individual bios with photos for months on end and the writing was exquisite.
It was about 2 a.m. on Wednesday morning and the streets of upper Manhattan were still. Then I heard a rumbling coming down Broadway. I looked out and saw US Mail trucks, a convoy of them, guarded by uniformed and plainclothes police. The police had high-powered weapons at the ready. My God, I thought we are at war. There was no air mail but the Postal Service was moving the mail.
This is an emotional day for all Americans, for all New Yorkers especially and for Manhattanites in particular. Those bastards, those gutless weasels. They killed Christians, Jews and Muslims, men, women and children indiscriminately.
Let's put aside the promotional squabbles, the Internet site arguments, the criticizing of boxers and everyone in boxing for today. Let's pay respect to New York's Finest, to New York's Bravest and to one and all who ran toward danger in lower Manhattan. Let's salute the healers, both mental and physical.
There are courageous boxers but
aren't they all courageous for
stepping into the ring. What's
greater than courage? The only
answer to that can be seen in a
big hole in the ground where the
Twin Towers used to stand.
That's real courage, courage
literally under fire.
It's not a holiday but it is an American holy day. Let's finish the fight. Let's get bin Laden and all the rest of them. We owe that much, at least, to all who were murdered on that sunny morning of September 11, 2001.
No boxing today. |
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