9/11 Versus 5/2

It's the news everyone is talking about and I don't doubt that thousands of bloggers will be typing their fingers off over the next couple of days or maybe not? I certainly wasn't going to blog about it as I try to keep my blog fairly light-hearted and it's a highly controversial subject. However, you know when something's niggling at you and you need to write to get it off your chest? I wrote this post this afternoon and have been wondering whether to press publish but I've been inspired by this blog by Readily A Parent to post it.  You should go and read it, I feel it's a poignant reminder to us all.

The worlds most wanted man, Osama Bin Laden, is dead.

My knee-jerk reaction when I heard this morning was this was brilliant news but the more I have thought about it over the course of the day, the more my stomach is beginning to fill with dread. Dread that things are only going to get worse. A lot worse.

You see, I have very strong connections with America. Half my family live there.

Like everyone else, I remember the attack on the twin towers on 9/11 vividly. I was holidaying in Kefalonia in Greece when I switched on my mobile phone to see a text from a work colleague telling me of the events. My heart was in mouth. I ran back to the apartment and switched on the TV and the realisation of what was happening hit me like a kick in the stomach. I sat on the bed and cried.

My Uncle, whom I adore, was an airline pilot at the time (he's since retired) and he flew that route so many times. I rang my parents straight away but they told me they had tried endlessly to contact Uncle David without luck.

I couldn't relax. I was stuck in a foreign country on a holiday to try and save my marriage with a guy I didn't love. I've never felt so alone in my whole life. Even thinking about it all now makes me fill up.

Eventually my Mum rang me to let me know Uncle David was safe. He'd actually just landed in Boston when the first plane hit.

My Uncle was fine but thousands of people weren't that day. The repercussions of the tragedy rippled through the world. Stories were told, stories of immense sadness and devastation. As someone who's visited ground zero and also visited the Newseum in Washington DC (see some of my photos here or click on the photo opposite) I stand by my initial reaction - I was glad he was dead.

However, now I feel somewhat numbed by it all and I haven't turned the news on at all today because I think that the 'celebrations' I've heard about are wrong.

I've been a little subdued today since the news properly sunk in. I can't help that even though some people think this is the end it is actually only the start. I grow fearful that an already crazy world full of a lot of hatred and crime will only be fueled by todays events and I worry about the future in which my daughter is growing up. I know that's a very deep and dark statement to make but I can't help but feel that way.

I don't doubt that I'll remember this day too. Where I was and what I was doing on 5/2 when I heard the news that 'he' was dead.

The Gallery - Shapes of 9/11

It's that fabulous time of the week again and Tara had chosen 'Shapes' as the theme for The Gallery.

The year before our daughter was born my husband and I had one last big blow-out holiday and travelled all over America again (and Canada) as we love it so much .  Our relatives in Washington DC took us to the newly opened 'Newseum' which is an interactive museum of news and journalism on Pennsylvania Avenue.

It was an amazing place.  I wasn't sure whether I wanted to look at the dedicated 9/11 area but I'm glad I did - I was shaky and a bit teary but I did it.  Taking these photos was a truly moving experience for me.


A wall displaying 110 rectangular broadsheet newspaper front pages from 20 different countries.  These were all front pages from 12th September 2001 covering the day of the 9/11 tragedy.   View it large on black here.

The mangled and distorted rectangular shape of an antenna from the top of one of the twin towers.  View large on black here.

This was taken a few days later in New York.  It's the now battered sphere sculpture that once stood in the middle of Austin Tobin Plaza, the area between the World Trade Center towers.  It's now on display with the eternal flame (circle at the bottom) in Battery Park, Manhattan.

Now head over to Tara's blog and check out all the amazing entries!