Reign Over Me

Manhattan, New York City, is the busiest place I have ever been. Traffic spans the streets in some areas 12 lanes wide with cars, buses, trucks, bikers, pedestrians, police, fire and rescue units, construction crews and city workers, vendors, visitors, limos and taxis. Twenty minutes after the towers fell - hustlers were peddling photos of the burning buildings to the masses, which for some was the first view they had of what just occurred, at $10 a piece. While we were covered in the dust and rubble of smashed concrete and pulverized lives these opportunists were performing the very thing the world hates us for. I hated it too. Apparently nothing is sacred.

We walked in herds, silently, steadily away from the site with empty souls, stunned minds and broken hearts. Phone service was out, transportation in and out of the city was suspended, and we all fumbled for home, not knowing what to expect, whether it was across the river, across town or across the country.

Hotel rooms filled up immediately with stranded travelers and hotel lobbies swelled with those wanting rooms no longer available. Few restaurants remained open while the city disappeared. Someone in the kitchen at T.G.I. Friday’s dropped a tray and a hundred patrons gasped and prepared to take flight again. CNN became our family. We shared the day together and much of that week.

When evening eventually arrived, all you could hear on the vacant streets was the clicking of the traffic signals changing colors and the occasional fighter planes streaking through the night overhead. I still hear the silence as loud as a scream. I may never fully recover, but I will continue forward, always looking behind me.

I write about this experience now because these hauntings have been stirred again by yet another movie that has emerged regarding that tumultuous event. Adam Sandler is brilliant as well as Don Cheadle while Mike Binder continues to amaze me with his writing skills and project choices. If you have suffered loss or exist suffocated, you will recognise these characters and find familiarity in Reign Over Me. By the way, Jada is stunning and Donald Sutherland commands your eye with his brief but powerful presence.