The Bell

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Yesterday, September 11, was punctuated by the sound of a single bell tolling out moments of silence and reminding us, as we went about our various activities that the memorial at Ground Zero was still going on.

It is still so chilling-- and so recent in memory -- the truly unbelievable events that day at the World Trade Center! I am glad they called to mind the events that happened in an airplane over a Pennsylvania field and at the Pentagon. But it was the coverage of the appalling smoke and crashing down and the New Yorkers running for their lives that lives on so vividly in my own memory. This all happened not more than a few hours away from where I was at the time.

I had been spending my days preparing for a shipment of art work to be flown in from Seattle-- some seventy paintings that were to be exhibited at the University of Medicine and Dentistry in Piscataway NJ. These paintings were on their way to Newark airport when the news broke of the 9/11 attack. One thing they announced was that all air traffic to Newark was being diverted to Canada!

Well, the paintings did arrive in Newark-- just before the world changed -- and so the days after September 11, 2001 I spent with a dedicated and tireless crew hanging a huge show up on the walls of the large court in the main building.

But all was changed-- now we had to notify everyone that we would be working there -- when we were coming and how long we would be there and what was the license of our vehicle. The first morning when I was unpacking the large boxes a policeman came in the door and said "Hey, you!" I looked around and guessed he must be calling someone else and went back to my work. Next thing I knew, he was yelling at me, "Hey, you-- I mean YOU."

He came across the floor with his hand ready to pull his weapon and I realized he really did mean me, and I was all attention!

Once he was satisfied that my out-of-state car outside was not part of a plot and that I was doing work that was authorized, he explained, "It's a new world, lady. Everything is changed."

He certainly said the truth in only eight words.

Around New Jersey now we no longer see the endless American flags fluttering from vehicles anymore that suddenly proliferated after 9/11. But it is still a changed world. This happened to us, in front of our eyes! We will never be the same.

When they gather in Hawaii to commemorate Pearl Harbor, the faces of the survivors are very ancient, and very few. But there are still tears for the lost and for the sadness of receiving hate and death from planes overhead. It never ceases to chill when the bagpipe sounds and Taps is played. The sound of that bell, simply and soberly tolled by a uniformed official yesterday -- still chills me today, even though the official has left now and the people have gone home.



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