20 years ago – part 1

Over the next 3 days, I will share various reflections and photos of my experience of September 11, 2001, from my own perspective since I was close to the action, as you will see as you read on. Incidentally, 2 days after the tragedy, I wrote an article entitled ‘A Priest’s 5-day Diary in New York,’ for the Times of Malta and was quickly included  a few days later. A Company called BookSurge noticed it and  asked me if they could re-print it in a book they were publishing with various memoirs. Of course I said Yes and my entries were printed in the book called  ’09/11  8:48 AM.’ Another article will appear this week, and I will send you its link as soon as it appears over the next 3 days. 

The iconic Twin Towers dominating the New York skyline.

This is a day when we remember the three thousand victims of the most senseless tragedy in human history. At least those who are in their upper 20s and older will surely remember where they were when the events of September 11, 2001 unfolded. I personally was preparing and celebrating Mass at my church in Pleasant Valley, NY, and believe it or not, I heard about the attack on America from my mother, who was of course here in Malta. When I got to my room after Mass, I found a message on my phone, and as soon as I was retrieving the message, the phone rings again, and it was my mother frantically screaming "Julian, are you all right ?" "yes, of course I'm all right" I answered, wondering why was she panicking. Then she told me to open the TV and relayed to me quickly what was happening. At first I thought that the TV was showing a Schwarzenegger movie, but quickly I realized that this was no science-fiction movie.

Ruth Klein with the quilt she made to honor son Peter.

We all know the rest of the story, and for the next month or so, I was in touch with the Klein family of Pleasant Valley who had lost their son Peter, in his twenties, and married only a year. Of course I had to do the funeral, with no body, but a large picture of Peter, lots of flowers and a nice quilt which his mother had crafted with friends, showing the various talents Peter had, from being an altar-boy to a boy scout. 20 years have passed since that day, and the pain for so many families is still there. The blemish that terrorism had inflicted on the USA and the rest of the world is still around us. We just hope and pray that similar horrific tragedies will never occur again. I took these photos in 1988, while on a school trip to the Statue of Liberty with our school children.

Let us pray and remember.