Never forget the three thousand Americans who lost their lives that day, nor the millions more who died in the years that followed from the senseless war on the Middle East.
And, I request, we also remember those who were in Manhattan that day, and in following weeks, doing emergency and relief work...and died of horrific health problems, some many years later.
I had a dear/close friend and business colleague who was in Lower Manhattan that day in his work as an art conservator. He was giving away his services to a folk museum. He spoke something like 8 different languages, and he immediately stepped up to serve as an interpreter for the Red Cross and anyone else who needed him. He spent three weeks, trying to help people sort through things, find loved ones, get services, deal with paperwork/passport issues, navigate the chaos. It was the kind of guy he was. Helping others in any way he could. Always.
Within months of going home after that service, he started having chronic health issues--a cough that got worse and worse, e.g., and bad headaches and vision problems. Then digestive problems. In a few years he was a shadow of his former self.
He was always very healthy before 9/11. Traveled the world, careful what he ate and drank, never got sick in the winter, just one of the most energetic and robust people I ever knew.
I remember EPA head Christine Todd Whitman saying, "We have seen no readings indicating health hazard." It seemed like such a tricky way to put it. Not, "We studied it and the evidence indicates it's safe" but "We have seen no readings." I.e., we aren't bothering to get data that could cause me to have to do my job.
I still wonder how many people had their lives cut short as a result.
And, I request, we also remember those who were in Manhattan that day, and in following weeks, doing emergency and relief work...and died of horrific health problems, some many years later.
I had a dear/close friend and business colleague who was in Lower Manhattan that day in his work as an art conservator. He was giving away his services to a folk museum. He spoke something like 8 different languages, and he immediately stepped up to serve as an interpreter for the Red Cross and anyone else who needed him. He spent three weeks, trying to help people sort through things, find loved ones, get services, deal with paperwork/passport issues, navigate the chaos. It was the kind of guy he was. Helping others in any way he could. Always.
Within months of going home after that service, he started having chronic health issues--a cough that got worse and worse, e.g., and bad headaches and vision problems. Then digestive problems. In a few years he was a shadow of his former self.
He was always very healthy before 9/11. Traveled the world, careful what he ate and drank, never got sick in the winter, just one of the most energetic and robust people I ever knew.
I remember EPA head Christine Todd Whitman saying, "We have seen no readings indicating health hazard." It seemed like such a tricky way to put it. Not, "We studied it and the evidence indicates it's safe" but "We have seen no readings." I.e., we aren't bothering to get data that could cause me to have to do my job.
I still wonder how many people had their lives cut short as a result.