Remembering 2001

In September 2001 I lived in Florida in a little marina town south of Jacksonville along the northeast coast. I lived and worked aboard the MV Louisa as we prepared to take food and humanitarian relief supplies to Nicargua that November.

September 11, 2001 I woke up and headed downstairs to the office and galley to start the computer and start coffee. I fired up our AOL account (yes I hated it) and the welcome screen had news that a plane had hit a building in New York. Was it an accident? After reading a paragraph I went toward the galley for breakfast and turned on the TV with enough time to hear a live report and see the second plane hit. This was no accident.

The other guy living aboard ship had taken the company car – the Pimpin Plymouth noisy gray minivan – into town to get the tires changed, and we didn’t have cell phones. I had no idea where he went and I was stuck at the pier. I didn’t need to go anywhere but the ship was eerily quiet aside form the news on every channel.

I called my family back home in Indiana to make sure they were ok. I just needed to hear that things were still safe back home and still sane somewhere. None of us knew what was happening, and 7 years later I’m not sure I still understand all that happened in 2001.

For the next week we watched 9/11 TV news 24/7. Everyone I know did. We all wondered, are we really safe? What’s next?

While watching the news one evening that week I noted the somber mood and the galley lighting combined for an interesting portrait idea. I decided to set up my 35mm camera for a self portrait that became my reminder of the days in Florida and the September 11th events.

Favorite oversized coffee mug, Amish goatee, C41 (fake) Black & White self portrait.

Before 9/11 I had already been to 12 countries and had a strong sense of patriotism for my country. I had visited places of poverty and places of much wealth, and appreciated all that I had back home. Family, shelter, transportation, and money saved to use for travel. I could already sing the Star Spangled Banner word for word, and had sung it with American friends while traveling abroad.

But after September 11th, and to this day, I can’t sing it all the way through without tearing up. While still in Florida I watched the first Notre Dame football game to follow 9/11 and I cried seeing my hometown’s landmark awash with American flags and pride in our country. Do we have that same pride in our nation today?

Since 2001, since friends of mine in the Armed Services have been deployed to combat in Afghanistan and Iraq, since the lowest Presidential approval ratings… has our patriotism waned? Do we mope and complain about the economy and our leaders more than we remember the freedoms we enjoy?

Never forget.

Never forget all that we have as Americans.

That’s what today means to me.