September 14, 2001

2:24 PM

I opened a book and found Lorca:(a quick search online gave me the elecronic version -- first stanza included only)

"I have shut my balcony
because I do not want to hear the weeping,
but from behind the grey walls
nothing else is heard but the weeping. "

What give you comfort today? How are you coping?
posted by christina (28 comments total)

today is the first day I've cried.

and now I can't stop.
posted by rebeccablood at 2:33 PM on September 14, 2001

Hugs to you Rebecca. Each day I've felt sadder and sadder as the reality sinks in deeper and deeper. Part of me wants to stay and "fight", part of me wants to go far away and leave it all behind. But the loss of life is really what is hitting me now. And I don't know if I should stop paying attention to it so I stop crying.
posted by girlhacker at 2:42 PM on September 14, 2001

Leo Leoni's Alphabet Tree
I came across Alphabet Tree in a Leo Leoni anthology my kids have. We were reading it last night for bedtime stories; I let the book fall open and the story came up.
From the review:a clever caterpillar teaches letters to become even stronger by forming sentences with a message of peace
It seemed very timely.
posted by jazon at 2:49 PM on September 14, 2001

I'm deeply saddened. It is of chief importance to me to reach out to other people. The government is going to have it's own official response, but I find value in talking to my friends and family about the ugliness that this has exposed. I also try not to forget that we have trained terrorists in America for decades. The school for the americas trained not just the contras in thier facility in Georgia, but also people who committed atrocities all over Central America. If we are going to have a war on terrorism, we must start here. Close the school for the Americas!
posted by Antagonist at 2:51 PM on September 14, 2001

What gives me comfort:
the love for my friends and family, and theirs for me,
this place and it's endless perpsectives and viewpoints,
music of all varieties,
books books and more books,
and finally, the knowledge that no matter the depth and breadth of darkness, that there will be light again.
posted by Bones423 at 2:54 PM on September 14, 2001

I have been listening to the various song compilations that pop up, do a search on Morpheus/Kazaa for "wtc". The Enya one (Only Time) is especially good.

Talking to my mom helped too.
posted by owillis at 2:56 PM on September 14, 2001

I just spent a little time this afternoon at the school where my wife, Allison, teaches preschool. The 4 and 5 year olds in Allison's class have a vague idea that their parents are sad and that something has happened. A few of them have drawn pictures this week that include fire, buildings and planes. One of them told her today that the people in the picture 'have owwies'. Although its a bittersweet kind of happy, I find myself a bit recharged after seeing how things look through their eyes. Not one of them wanted to discuss international foreign policy, discuss bin Laden or debate whether war is the answer. I am sure this is temporary solace but I am still grateful.
posted by jasonshellen at 3:05 PM on September 14, 2001

i wrote my friends...people i haven't talked to for ages because time has that way of getting away from me. i don't want to take those connections for granted ever again.

so i look for small comforts...

i learned today from a friend who lives in manhattan that his wife went into labor on that fateful day and gave birth to a baby girl...
posted by webchick at 3:11 PM on September 14, 2001

gave birth to a baby girl

I was struck by the photo for a story in today's Globe (photo not included) that showed a father holding his newborn child: it was so unexpected, that some people had to go on with their lives. Until I saw that, I just assumed time had stopped for a couple of days.
posted by yerfatma at 3:22 PM on September 14, 2001

I try not to feel guilty about doing 'fun' things. Last night we watched a stupid comedy movie and today I've been cranking the tunes (Sly and the Family Stone right now). Tomorrow night we're going to the Hollywood Bowl for some music under the stars.

I still watch the news and I got choked up when the workers chanted U.S.A! U.S.A! Around the president. I'm still sad and confused inside, but I notice that I've never listened so closely to music lyrics before as I have today, you can always find support in the simplest things if you let your mind wander a bit.
posted by jonah at 3:46 PM on September 14, 2001

My grandparents lived through dark times, and their memory strengthens me, because they were strong.

I'm going to stay rational, I think, until tomorrow's Prom, and Barber's Adagio, and then it will all be let go.
posted by holgate at 3:47 PM on September 14, 2001

Things that have randomly brought tears to my eyes in the past few days:

The singing of "Amazing Grace" in Congress

An editorial cartoon showing Lady Liberty still standing among the destruction.

Reading about "The Star Spangled Banner" being played at Buckingham Palace.

Reading about the somber phone calls made from passengers aboard the doomed planes.
posted by Oriole Adams at 3:53 PM on September 14, 2001

The uni where I work had a brief ceremony at noon today. The president of the school spoke, and spoke well; a moment of silence ended with the suddenly sad-sounding rings of our refurbished old schoolhouse bell; and the carnations we were handed were dropped onto a round open sculpture in the center of the school's mall. I felt better being surrounded by people, even people I don't know well, because our coming together made the world a little less ugly and lonely.

Tonight we might go to the Interstate Fair, which even two nights ago seemed horrifically inappropriate. But now a few hours amongst the livestock, carnies and elephant ears doesn't sound so bad.

Stay strong.
posted by jaustinspace at 4:16 PM on September 14, 2001

in my deepest, darkest corners of rage, where reason fears to tread, i keep imagining the sound of nuclear detonation, the sight of a nuclear fireball rendering the entire Holy Land and all of its sundry combatants and their toxic, deadly religions into a vast plain of inert glass. then i come to my senses.
posted by quonsar at 4:23 PM on September 14, 2001

things that made me cry and cry and cry: the stories of the people who jumped before the buildings collapsed. that their last choice was how they did is too horrible. the stories of people throwing garbage at islamic schoolchildren. The phone calls form the planes. the people wiht the pictures of their lost loved ones around their neck.

My comfort: poetry. husband. cooking complicated food. sitting in the sun with friends talking about hanna barbara cartoons.

noel's puppy


posted by christina at 4:28 PM on September 14, 2001

posted by kliuless at 4:49 PM on September 14, 2001

I'm going to a party tonight and I will be drinking until I pass out. I'll dance, meet people, and generally make an ass out of myself. That's my plan.
posted by estopped at 4:50 PM on September 14, 2001

Reading the sermon on the mount while playing Jimi Hendrix very loud. Also, if anything happens in L.A. involving nukes or anthrax, i'm planning to drop acid immediately.
posted by xowie at 5:24 PM on September 14, 2001

I began to cry randomly throughout yesterday, and it doesn't end today. I can't sleep more than 5 hours at a time. What brought this about was finally hearing from almost all of the people I've been waiting for word from, including someone very, very important to me.

I'm exhausted with grieving. So I haven't turned the TV on all day.
posted by mirla at 5:58 PM on September 14, 2001

Spending time with my daughter. Talking to my boyfriend. Refreshing CNN.com every 10 minutes to keep the hope alive that survivors will be found amidst the rubble. Eating rainbow sherbert, reading Lord of the Rings in preparation for 'The Fellowship of the Ring's release in December.

Life goes on, but it is always there, in the back of my mind, driving my eyes to sting and tears to spill at varying points throughout the day.

It helps also when I see, hear and read about people all over the world expressing sympathy and solidarity - even despite how most of it seems to revolve around violent retribution. Silver lining being that humanity's collective heart hasn't hardened completely yet.
posted by precocious at 6:02 PM on September 14, 2001

The hardest thing is letting myself believe that it happened. I feel guilty when I try -- like I'm betraying the dead. I feel as if straightening my back, putting on some music, cleaning the house and accepting what has happened would be callous.

My first thought when I saw what was happening was the same thought I have now: I don't want to live in this new world, the one where this happens. I don't want this to become accepted, thereby acceptable. I guess I'm protesting in the only unrational way my mind has available to me, by refusing to believe it.

And I'm all right for 80% of the day. But the nights are very bad. I wonder how we'll even be able to count what it means that millions are going through this kind of anguish at the same time.
posted by argybarg at 6:32 PM on September 14, 2001

My comfort today was the cool September rain that did my crying for me.

My comfort today was my baby daughter's smile when she saw me this morning.

My comfort today was a tuna fish sandwich.

My comfort today was to go to the mall and watch the teenagers suck face in front of the Eddie Bauer store.

My comfort is that the world goes on with or without any of us.
posted by briank at 7:14 PM on September 14, 2001

One of my greatest comforts throughout all of this has been the incredible sense of community here on MetaFilter. Though many of us are strangers, we've managed to come together - crossing all boundaries of nation, race, religion and the like.

Thank you Matt, and thanks to all of you who make this place what it is.
posted by aladfar at 7:49 PM on September 14, 2001

>Thank you Matt, and thanks to all of
>you who make this place what it is.

ditto
posted by webchick at 8:17 PM on September 14, 2001

Thanks all for this wonderful thread.
Watching the ruins in South Manhattan today I could not help remembering Rilke's tenth Duino elegy, which begins:

That someday, delivered at last
from this terrifying vision,
I might sing out in praise and
jubilation unto approving angels,
that no single tone shall fail
to sound due to a slack,
a doubtful or a broken string
when clearly struck by
the hammer of my heart;
that my joyful face
might stream with radiance
and these hidden tears at last
erupt in blossoms fully blown,
I must learn to hold these
nights of anguish dear!
(...)


It's a long poem and should be printed out so that it can be read slowly and properly. It keeps coming back to me over the years and always seems new and about whatever saddens and challenges us to survive.

The best version on the web I could find is Robert Hunter's translation, here at
posted by MiguelCardoso at 11:37 PM on September 14, 2001

Could'nt post the link properly:
http://www.dead.net/Robert HunterArchive/files/Poetry/Elegies/elegy10.html is the URL.
I
posted by MiguelCardoso at 11:39 PM on September 14, 2001

my cats, my expensive wines, just looking at my new shoes, looking at a bunch of tulips in the supermarket, watching a roach climb my wall(they will outlast us all).
posted by billybob at 2:39 AM on September 15, 2001

Tehillim contains joy, anger, compassion, sadness and faith. The traditional refuge of the Jew in time of trouble.I commend it to all you people of the book.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 4:14 AM on September 15, 2001