Have You Seen These People?

September 11, 2023

That’s what a sign downtown in the ambulance bay at Beth Israel Hospital asked in the days and weeks after the terrorist attack that brought down the World Trade Center. Below the sign were dozens of homemade flyers that each included a photo, the person’s name and age, where they worked – on what floor and in which tower, and a phone number to please call with any information.

B.I. Ambulance Bay.

These Walls of Hope sprang up spontaneously all over the place, especially near hospitals, in the hope that these loved ones weren’t really lost, just temporarily missing. We were missing them alright. Couldn’t believe they were gone gone and hanging desperately to the hope they’d, somehow, just show up.

As days went by our rational mind told us that was less and less likely, but nobody cared what our rational mind said. Nobody would dare admit that. Nobody would abandon or desert the missing by giving up hope, no matter how far fetched their return might be.

“These people” had gone to work that morning, as usual. And then the unthinkable, the unreal, happened. Nobody could even believe what their own eyes were seeing. It wasn’t possible that this had happened. Who would even do such a thing? To New York fucking City, for chrissake.

Tons of paper, blown to smithereens by the impacts, whirled high in the sky, suspended in the dust cloud, and then fell to the ground and covered the pavement like snow. By nightfall some of the first missing flyers were already up on 1st Avenue near Bellevue Hospital. Many more would follow.

We’ll always remember the 343 FDNY Fire Fighters who bravely charged into those towering infernos that morning in a bid to save lives and ultimately lost their own. We don’t always remember all the others quite as vividly, but we should. 37 Port Authority Police, 23 NYPD Officers, plus 8 EMTs and Medics, also sacrificed their lives, as did countless civilians who died trying to help their colleagues escape. The passengers and crews on four airplanes. 658 souls at Cantor Fitzgerald. And all of the missing…

According to Brittanica, “At the World Trade Center in New York City, 2,753 people died, of whom 343 were firefighters. The death toll at the Pentagon near Washington, D.C., was 184, and 40 individuals died outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania.“

Today they’ll have the by now traditional 9/11 ceremony at Ground Zero. The Mayor and Governor will probably be there, someone from the White House, a Senator or two, some ranking Fire and Police Ofiicers. Somebody will probaby sing Amazing Grace and others will play a mournful tune on the bagpipes.

Names will be read, bells will toll, prayers will be recited and flowers will be left alongside peoples’ names on the shiny black stone wrapped around the waterfalls.

Judging by those missing flyers many, probably most, of the people we lost that morning were in their 20s and early 30s. Look around today and notice all the precious, beautiful 20s to early 30s year olds you see. People who looked quite like them went missing on that dreadful day 22 years ago in our City. Also check out people you see who are in their 40s to early 50s now. That’s how old they’d be today if they hadn’t gone missing on 9/11. Let’s remember them with love. Send up a prayer. Shed some tears for them. Take a moment. Hell, take all day. Remember them. Honor them. Miss them. September 11th will always be their day.