All lost some, some lost all…
That’s the inscription on a plaque that was erected in honor of the twenty three alumni who graduated from my high school and subsequently perished in the events that transpired on September, 11, 2001. While I knew only a handful personally, it still hits close to home.
Yesterday, I got an e-mail from my grammar school called Our Lady of Angels in Brooklyn, New York (I still don’t know how they managed to track me down since it’s been about 45 years since I went there) It seems there’s another plaque with an additional nineteen names. I recognized another five or six, three of whom were firefighters and another a cop.
Here’s how it read…
Dear Robert,
May God bless those who died 13 years ago today and their families. We especially remember members of the Our Lady of Angels community. Below is a photo of the OLA memorial and the names of our fallen Angels.
That brings the total to forty two people who grew up in the same community that I did that lost their lives that day.
I don’t know how many others suffered injuries or in the case of first responders, incurred any illness as a result of the debris and the chemicals they might have inhaled as they sifted through the rubble in the ensuing rescue and clean up efforts. I imagine there are probably a few more.
They say that time heals all wounds and while that might be true in some cases , it most often always leaves a scar.