Small People, Small Tribute

-One-
Today, about two weeks before the tenth anniversary, I decided to start writing a few small things about 9/11, before the big, famous, not-so-big and not-so-famous took over the entire stratosphere. I thought my small, rather “insignificant” blips could be blipped now, before big media began their ga-ga tear-jerkers 24/7, in all likelihood from the Friday before the solemn Sunday observance.
After all, compared to what they have to say and for how long they have to say it, my blurbs would be quick, straight, and…did I say small? Only difference is, my otherwise non-noteworthy notes might be a lot simple.
You would have no problems getting them.
I do not ever want to trouble you with the details of that harrowing, fateful day; plus, the big guys and gals will give you so much gas that you would need half a box of Pepcid AC to digest it. And honestly, I’m glad they’ll give you the bloated details; because I have a lot of overlaps too: like, I truly believe, swear to God, that it was a barbaric and heinous criminal terrorist attack, it was a ghastly-cowardly act, it showed how people came together in New York and all across America to protect peace, and how it created global solidarity against hate, violence and terror.
I’m glad I don’t need to repeat the routine. In fact, I have no doubt the big and famous can do a better job on that front than I can.
I’d rather tell you a few personal stories — stories that some of you may have heard, seen or witnessed first hand. Some of you may have worked with me shoulder-to-shoulder in the aftermath of that terror, and these stories are perhaps all too known to you. Yet, in the vastness of the tribute to the 9/11 halo, so many small stories of small men and women have not been told well, or told at all, that I feel this tenth anniversary would perhaps be a good time to bring them back to life.
I also feel personally obligated, because a small chronicler that I am, these men and women have entrusted me one way or the other to tell their stories to the world, and I did my best to do it over the past ten years in bits and pieces, but never managed to do it in an organized, coherent way.
I hope that this new little blog would serve as a reservoir of these personal, small stories — for an eager and compassionate audience. Some friends have always insisted that I did it.
Please come back and visit us. I’ll ready the real-life stories for you — one personal story at a time.
Sincerely Writing,
Partha
August 29, 2011