To have the NYC marathon is an insult to all of those in distress after Sandy.
I see Facebook pages popping up and unless you take the time to read them sir, I know that you are still going to go through with this. Hell even if you saw all of the comments, you would still do it.
That's not what a mayor does.
Your people are suffering. I am fortunate enough to be okay, but I know people who are not.
Resuming school on Monday? Great! So what are you going to do for the kids whose schools were damaged in the Rockaways? What is the plan for schools in lower Manhattan if you cannot restore power by then? Are kids going to be penalized for not coming to school next week because they don't know when they are going back to their homes? I would like to know that.
And Staten Island...what are you going to do for them? People are needed everywhere yes, but do you have a plan to get people to Staten Island to help. We can't exactly walk there.
Saying, "We are doing the best we can." is not easing anyone's mind, especially when the next minute, you are saying that the marathon will go on!
If I had the chance to talk to you, I would ask every question in this entry and more. If you cannot come up with a good answer for these questions, then guess what...you shouldn't be having this marathon!
Please use the common sense that the good Lord gave you (but is obviously hidden in the shadows of preparing for a marathon that should be postponed!).
Sometimes it takes a single note. Sometimes it takes an encouraging word. Whatever it is, something takes you back to a place where your past will help define your future. During Hurricane Sandy (all is well here, don't worry!), when I had nothing to do, no Internet, work, or any place to go, I did things I haven't done in years. I read a book in a day. I played numbers on Facebook where I got reminders of how people view me, especially people who remember my writing. And when I made the decision to work on my next manuscript, I found songs that I used to listen to when I would be up to the wee hours of the morning editing and writing.
I found a lifeline to the passion.
For the last two years since I've graduated from college, I've been up and running. Real life came crashing down. While I've worked on my writing in the beginning and accomplished things beyond my expectations...life has gotten in the way. Lately, I felt I was losing myself. I was going to put it in a different way, but that sounds perfect as I write it.
I've been losing myself. In the most important way. Forgetting that every decision I made before I graduated was for the sake of writing. That I am writing.
Christina is writing and writing is Christina.
Other people know it and tell me all the time. I stopped believing them.
Now I remember. The times in the past year where I have had all of these mini revelations have lead to the big one. It's why I'm up after four hours of sleep and blogging. It's why I'm going to actually continue to work on the next manuscript after posting this. I've been blessed with time (no work while subways and electricity aren't working in Manhattan) and a push from the past. Taking advantage!
Want to hear the song that caused this wonderful revelation? Follow this link: http://open.spotify.com/track/7AEhFs2UwiKQstZ7SuE4H4
In the meantime, I hope all those that have been affected by Sandy are doing well. My heart goes out to those who have been going through a hard time or have lost their lives in this disaster. I thank god that my loved ones, friends, and myself are still well.
Be blessed everyone!
The Write Queen
Ten years ago, I was 15. I remember having a headache that day. I remember sitting with the boy I was sort of seeing in the auditorium that morning and complaining of not feeling well. Our school day went on the same, except there was no transportation to get home. The day was so hazy that I can't tell you for sure what class I was in when it happened. I think it was either second or third period, possibly gym. I do remember the class I got the confirmation, when it wasn't a rumor anymore, 7th period English. You may think that is a long time in between to not know, but my high school was a split session school. I went to school from 7AM to 12PM. A lot can happen in 5 hours.
I walked home with one of my friends. She wore a scarf (what I called it at the time, from the lack of knowing, what she called it when she was with her friends) on her head. Throughout our high school years, I watched that scarf come off in school often. Though her taking it off was out of rebellion for freedom in her own life, I wonder if sometimes if it was for the fear of being stereotyped as many people who held the beliefs of that cloth were.
It never matter to me. A person is a person, except those who do evil deeds. Even with that belief, I do believe that even those who are evil are human. Something happened along the way that are beyond the average person. I feel sad that evil lived in those people who caused 9/11 and those who have ever committed evil acts and continue to do so. They will never know the goodness of the world.
My dad had went into the city that day. I was scared. When he finally called and said he was okay, I was so relieved. He wasn't near the devastation, it was just harder for him to get home. God Bless those who didn't make it home that day. God Bless those who did.
From Lefferts and Rockaway Blvds, you were able to see the slight image of Twin Towers. Now there is nothing.
A month before 9/11, I was in the city. I walked by the Twin Towers for the first time. We didn't stop to look, but I kept looking up and turning back in awe of the buildings. If I only knew.
It is the morning of the ten year anniversary and I am watching the ceremony. Before today, I had no feelings about it one way or another. Of course I have sadness, compassion, and remembrance. Of course the city is the last place I would go today and I'm staying away from subways. Anything else is game because you can't live in total fear. That's what the terrorists wanted, our complete fear. And I, for one, do not like to let the bad guys win. I will always have a slight one as we all do, but to break down into complete fear every 9/11 would be a dishonor to everyone who has died because of this.
In terms of being emotional, I wasn't until I sat down and watched the names being read. The names of strangers who loss their lives in such a senseless way has non-stop tears rolling down my face. Watching the faces of those who directly loss so much in the span of a couple of hours in one day makes my heart ache.
The saddest thing is to watch children trace the names of people they will never see again. Some of them never got to know those names in this living, breathing life. I can't stand it, it hurts to see people kiss the names of people they will never see again. It hurts that those names even have to be there.
I can't believe that my peers and friends were 15 and 14 ten years ago. We are now women and men, who grew up into adults in a post 9/11 world. We watched a war, seen economic downfall, been through our own insignificant problems. We have witness over tragedies, personal and beyond us. But we have also found love, made children, and tried to make a difference in our own lives and the lives of others. We wake up everyday, alive. The best thing we can do for the victims of 9/11 is to live life because they didn't get the chance to. To not waste our lives because as we saw ten years ago, it can all be over in a second.
In unrelated loss, I want to say I miss you and I love you to my Tio Raymond, whose 3 year anniversary was earlier in the week, to my grandmother Iris whose birthday would have been two days ago, and to each of my grandfathers, their anniversaries are coming up in October. Their deaths are the closest I can feel to the pain that the 9/11 families feel today. May God bless your souls and the souls of those loss ten years ago today.
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