London...

[rayvyn2k]

When I saw the news this morning, the first thing I thought was "OMG, I wonder if my online friends (particularly dora_the_nymph) are okay??"

Then I came to the LJ and went to KA and found posts from everyone I knew over there, checked Neil Gaiman's site and found that his daughter is okay, and I felt better for a bit.

Now, I have checked the Sky News and BBC News sites and I find myself getting upset...not angry, but nervous and uneasy.

I'm having flashbacks to 9/11--I almost had a nervous breakdown after that sad day.

For those of you who don't know, I used to work for American Express. That Tuesday was a day like any other...at first. (Just like in London this morning.) The center I worked in had televisions all around the room which usually just showed the company news, etc. After the first plane hit, they turned them on to the news--thinking it was a horrific accident. We watched in horror as the second plane hit. The customer I was talking to at the time, after I told him what I'd just seen, shouted: OMG, I have employees in that building!! and rang off.

Needless to say, the calls into the center stopped. We watched the news, watched the towers fall, watched the New Yorkers wandering around covered in soot and ash. What made it even worse was that American Express had an agency in Tower One...and no one survived. Not only that, our world headquarters building was right across the street and sustained some damage. It is the building with the pyramid on the top which had the huge American flag on the side.

I was so angry...I raged and raged...I know I scared my husband with my anger. I told him that if bin Laden was in front of me, I would kill him myself. I am not a violent person by nature, but I swore that I would kill that asshole with my bare hands and then spit on his dead body.

I was wild with grief. I would cry at the drop of a hat...I could not understand how people could be so heartless, cruel and just plain evil. I watched everything I could about the tragedy, including the documentary by the French guys whose film about a NY fire company turned into so much more.

A year later, I took that day off, because I knew I would not be able to work. I watched the memorial that was done and cried again.

I found www.tomatonation.com and http://www.tomatonation.com/thouart.shtml Sars' essay about her experiences of that fateful day and I wept again.

Thank goodness I haven't had to be on the phone today...because I have had tears welling up at unexpected times all day.

Reading the posts from the LJ that Lee linked has helped. The Londoners are wonderfully stoic and just "getting on with things". I love that about them.

{{{BIG HUGS}}} to London, England...I'm with you in spirit...

Comments

[snegurochka_lee]

*hugs you* Hang in there, baby. It's times like these that it's easy to think terrible things about the world in general, the cruelty of humanity, etc. But also watch the poise and determination of the amazing Londoners, New Yorker, and everyone else who has lived through something like this. They are heartwarming examples of the good in people, as well.

*more hugs*

[rayvyn2k.livejournal.com]

I include you among the good ones, sweetie. I just hate it when the "world" intrudes into my life, you know? *sigh* I'll be okay, just need a drink...
or three. :)

[dora-the-nymph.livejournal.com]

http://www.livejournal.com/users/fleetfootmike/131224.html - that and the post linked pretty much some up peoples feelings. I went to a school where every other day we were told it was the only school in england to be bombed while in session in the war, London being bombed is horrible, but not the same sort of shock.

*hugs muchly* I'm very glad I do not have all those horrible things you do, and the people I know are you. You have no idea how touched I am by all the people who have said things. London can be alright, because, damnit, we're Britsh! And as some one said on the very different sort of news we had yesterday, 'london is the best city in the world!'

Thank you for the concern.

[rayvyn2k.livejournal.com]

I was squeeing right along with all of you about the Olympics! And when I was visiting London many years ago, I actually stayed at the Hotel Russel on Russel Square. So, it was a bit of a wrench to see that one of the buses was so nearby.