Two perspectives on 9/11

From TWA comments:

It’s like all those stupid-ass, fat housewives from Ohio and Indiana and Nebraska, and the rest of fly-over world weeping their soap-opera tears and baking their red, white and blue cupcakes after 9/11. Usurping someone else’s tragedy to steal some attention for yourself or your cause is sickeningly shallow and horribly rude. I spent over 9 hours after watching those planes crash into those buildings, watching them fall, watching the debris flying through the air, and so on, to locate my husband, children, siblings, and parents. I know what the sheer, cold, numb horror of those hours were like, and my husband knows what it’s like not to be able to locate some of his relatives. We both know what it’s like to know that colleagues and friends walked into that building that morning and never walked out again. So, I understand the reality of having someone else use a very real tragedy for me for their own purposes, especially after that fat prig, Jerry Falwell, blamed it on all those evil gay people out there.

As someone who probably qualifies for fat, stupid-ass Ohio housewife, my first reaction frankly incredulous. It seems to me that the 9/11 tragedy didn’t just happen to New Yorkers, or to Washingtonians, but to all of us. In fact, I remember specifically that day, after hearing about the plane going down on Shanksville, PA, and realizing how pretty darn close that was to my home via air plane, and wondering what the hell else was going to happen – being somewhat scared for my life, and the lives of my family and friends not at home, and concerned about whether or not we should clear out the neighborhood and head for the nearest school basement! Wondering where the guy who was the best man at our wedding was (he works in DC) and whether it was anywhere near the Pentagon.

But more than that, I remember the feeling of camaraderie and patriotism after the tragedy. The sense that people were pulling together to help each other and to help our fellow Americans who were in shock, grief, and need. I remember long lines at blood donation centers because no body knew how great the need was going to be for blood. Mr. Pete, who has O neg, the universal donor, gave. A lot of us fat, stupid-ass Ohio housewives brought baked goods and refreshments for the donors, the need was so great. My city collected funds to buy a new fire engine for the city of New York because so many of theirs had been lost or damaged. It has a plaque on it commemorating it as a gift from the people of my city to the people of New York. Little did I ever suspect that type of gesture would be mistaken as attention grubbing.

Anyone else remember the semis rolling down the interstate covered in American Flags? I do, and it brought tears to my eyes whenever I saw it. It never occurred to me that it was “sickeningly shallow and horribly rude” let alone attention grubbing again.

I’d like to believe that this is just this particular person’s odd perspective on things, but I could be wrong. Maybe New Yorkers and others who were directly impacted by 9/11 felt that the rest of the country was just showing off. I’d sure like to hear your perspective if that’s the case.