Sept 11

All day I’ve been thinking about doing a post about what I was doing on 9/11 and how it changed my life. I remember that it was a gorgeous day in New England. I was at Morse’s Pond in Wellesley testing the soil for hexavalent chromium. Paint had been dumped on the site years ago, contaminating the soil. At the time, I was working for an EPA contractor. Mandy and I were cramped in the trailer on the pond. It wasn’t until Frank, the OSC, showed up that we even knew what happened; “those fuckers destroyed the trade towers” is how he put it. I couldn’t quite visualize it. I couldn’t even visualize the dimensions of the NYC skyline and how the towers looked in it. I couldn’t imagine how big of a void would be left. As the day passed, the excavator dug deeper into the toxic soil. With each batch of soil came news from the radio in the excavator about the Pentagon or the plane in Pensylvania. With every bit of information, the world became harder to visualize.

I didn’t have a TV at the time, so at the end of the day I went down to The Cherry Tree (a bad bar in Newton) to see what happened. The news stations were still showing the footage of people jumping out of the buildings. I suppose they replayed that footage today, but I don’t have a need to watch it again. They also showed Palestinian refugees rejoicing. The bar went nuts over how we should blow them all up. Everything about it feels misplaced; this world appears beautiful but hate is easily stirred under the surface. I finally understood what it means to be patriotic; irrespective of how badly our leaders behave, I have an obligation to defend and love this nation.

I suppose that 9/11 changed my life in the way that it reshaped the world and my country. The devastation did not affect me directly, as I did not personally lose any one close. For a little while it brought the world closer together in grief. That’s kinda gone to hell now, but eventually order will be restored. The Freedom Tower will eventually be completed. In the meantime, at least French fries are back. The war for oil will be replaced by something else (probably not democracy, but at least our loved ones can come home). Pretty sure the job at Morse’s Pond is done, at least by EPA standards. Mission Accomplished.