This is an outtake from Santi's journal, four days after we were there in Lower Manhattan ON THAT DAY. The Day the Earth Stood Still.



Sun.9.15.01

Yet another beautiful sunny day here. It's been like that every day since Tues., Sept. 11th. The only day we had clouds, rain and darkness was on Fri. The national prayer day. Felt like Mother nature was joining us in our pain that day.



We went down to Bowling Green today, met Scott there. We tried to get as close as possible to Ground Zero. The smell, the smoke was strong. There were times when I found it hard to breathe, my eyes were burning. Thick layers of ashes were everywhere and on everything. Like the fallout after an atomic bomb. There were solders everywhere. When we got out at Bowling Green subway stop, there were lots of people holding up cards with their address on it. People who lived in the area before 911. They were hoping the Army would let them in to their apts., get some of their personal belongings or bring out their pets. Massive endless roads of trucks carrying out all the debris. One after another. Hard to believe this was happening here in Manhattan, NY.



We tried to walk around some. Talked about how strange it was for us, considering we were just down here, in this neighborhood last Sat. We had done almost the same exact walk around then, looking at converted apts., wondering if we could live down that far from Midtown. How nice and quite, how green it all was just a week ago. Everything had changed now. Soldiers were at every corner, telling you which way you could and could not walk.



We could feel the energy of so many souls around us. So many people who died such a horrible death. It’s hard when you stop and think about it. The screams of people falling to their death, the sadness of so much lost. I wonder if we will ever get over it? Wonder what comes next?