Wednesday, August 24, 2005

I Stand Corrected

Steve has very kindly let me know that I did not see a terrorist symbol but instead a stylized version of the South Carolina state flag.
And just for the record, I may be a Yankee with "odd notions" but I live too close to Ground Zero for comfort.
As a child, I used to go with my father to a park where we could look across the Hudson River and see the World Trade Center being built. It was to be the tallest building in the world and he wanted us to see it happen.
At the very tollbooth we drove through on Monday (exit 12 of the NJ Turnpike) we could see the Twin Towers as we waited to pay for the privilege of driving on that particular highway (but that's a rant for another day).
I'm a North Jersey native, and many of the villains of 9/11 roamed my hometown.
I am glad that it was a South Carolina sticker on that car, but I don't think I will ever really breathe easy again.

4 comments:

Steve said...

awww, I was just kidding you about the "yankee" stuff! If it makes you feel any better, I may have lived in the Carolinas all my life, but I was born in Neptune NJ.

I just knew when I read that post that something sounded familiar about that "Mushroom cloud and crescent moon", and right then, a BMW with that very sticker passed me on his way towards Rock Hill SC and it hit me!

BTW, have you seen the National geogaphic special on 9/11? Not so much grim, but it was going thru how it all began, as far back as the Russians invading Afghanistan. really insightful,well worth the time to watch.

Jill said...

barb - not a day doesn't go by when i don't think about 9/11. we were in midtown and after the first building went down - i looked at my then boyfriend (now husband) and said get me out of this city. at the time - we spent most of our time at his place in cliffside park. i will never forget two days later - the wind direction changed - and we could totally smell the smoke. i think that your reaction to the car sticker was not out of line. that awareness will always be with us.

Barb Szyszkiewicz said...

Yes, I know you were kidding about the Yankee stuff. No harm done, no offense taken.
Actually I am very glad to know that the sticker was totally harmless. That hole in the skyline makes us a bit paranoid at times.

Barb Szyszkiewicz said...

I don't mind if you laugh....we are....and it's largely out of relief this time.
If we can't laugh at ourselves we are in serious trouble, I think.
I'm very sorry for your loss. In our case, all we lost was peace of mind, and that was more than enough.