Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Passed by Ground Zero Today

"First Responder" has become synonymous with "hero". And is, of course, very well deserved. Before 9/11/2001, I don't remember hearing the term "First Responder". After THAT day of infamy, it has become a household term, used often, but not too often. My hat is off to all those brave men and women who run into places where angels, indeed, fear to tread.

And speaking of angels, I read an article in today's news paper about the Flight 93 National Memorial. You folks in PA who are fortunate enough to live close by, can go there and participate in the Dedication and Commemoration of the Memorial site on 9/11, and stand in for the rest of us weary travelers.

Unfortunately lots of those heroes who helped dig out the cite are now suffering from a variety of cancers and other maladies. They are NOT getting money yet. A whole vitriolic ad campaign plays on the airwaves in the NYC area addressing the issue even today.

Steve, please let me know if you come accross a website or something that we could do to get affirmative action started in this area...I just can not comprehend this, these men and woman went thru some of the most horrific things losing their co-workers and I dont want to get to graphic but worked for months picking up momentos and remains of loved ones all while putting their own health at risk and now when they need us most we are turning our backs on them..they still have families to support plus hugely mounting medical bills and that not even including those that have since died because of their illnesses..this is not rocket science WHY these mena and woman are sick...UGG! I hate buracracy, I hate games, and I hate the sacrifices these wonderful people made just to be told too bad.

Michelle girl..you and me apparently need to head to Washington and open some can of whip a** on some of these congressmen and you and I would be just the ones to do it!!


Also everyone everywhere please be careful we just heard tonight that their are possible terrorists plots looming with this being the 10th anniversary...God I hope not but just please be careful everyone!

Hugs!

A few months before 9/11 the company I worked for closed and I was given the option of a severance or a job in the NYC office next to the Verizon building. Because I was having such a hard time due to AS I took the severance package. My co-workers that took the job the NYC could see the faces of the jumpers from their office. I have to thank AS too. I know that I could never have recovered from that. It has been over ten years since I have been in the city because I still can’t bring myself to go to the site.

If you study the major world religions, we all have the same underlying teaching on how to be a good human and how to treat other living things. So the idea that any of this was done in the name of religion is asinine.

I haven't heard anything from the Media about the jumpers. It's as if some of the worst things that happened at that site never happened. I will never forget when the TV cameras showed two people, holding hands falling down from where they jumped. That vision will be with me forever. Later on in the TV coverage, the cameras were somewhere at the bottom of the towers and you could hear the thud as the bodies landed on the roof. My heart aches for those people and their families. I can't imagine how they felt as they had to choose between the flames and the fall. I get tears thinking about it. We must remember, no matter how much it hurts. When people start forgetting, our country is gone.

I have hear and read and seen alot although the media maybe tried to do the right thing by not focusing on it...I know they have tried to go to great lengths to hide the identity of the jumpers just out of respect for the families..I also watched footage when they were talking to firemen and you would hear that thud..and you knew what it was..having been up there I just cant fathom having to have had to make that choice that inside was so unbearable that "that" was the only option...

My thoughts are with everyone touched by this tragedy...some good has come from this we have a friend whose daughter was born on the day her birthday is tomorrow but they are celebrating her birthday now, we have neighbors next door whos daughter is getting married right now, and we have friends at church who did get married on 9/11 last year so they are celebrating their 1st anniversary tonight.

Hard to fathom why humans can be so cruel, inside we are all the same. I will never forget where I was and when I first heard the story... was listening to radio in office in St. Petersburg, FL where I worked... radio commentator stated there was a news story that a plane crashed into the Word Trade Center.. not seeing picture or commentator detailing more, I thought it must have been a small plane... took another 10 or 15 minutes for me to learn just how tragic it was.

Thoughts and prayers to all those directly and indirectly affected... already is 9/11 where I live.

Take care,
Tim

Here we are 10 years after a day that changed our world.

Let us remember all of those that lost their lives on 9/11 and those lost since then protecting our freedoms, our lives and properties both at home and away.. God Bless them all

here it is, the morning of 9/11, 10 years later.....
CNN replaying that morning's events.
its still hard to grasp its reality, never visiting the site.

and last night, watching a program on CNN about the health effects of the dust.....
still can't believe that all first responders, all volunteers on that day, don't have their health costs covered 100%......its the very least we can do........and when you listen to the stats, to me the cause and effects are very clear.....everything from unusual autoimmune diseases to unusual cancers........

Saw a firetruck with all the names of the fallen firefighters...I think www.cnn.con has wonderful pictures of whats going on today at different places.