Sister Cities

I feel like I really need to say some things about the attacks on London yesterday. It was my home for 5 months... the Edgeware Road Tube stop? a 10 minute walk from my apartment. London was (and still is) a magical city... my father described it when he visited as "like Disney World without those stupid rides". The history, the culture and the people were like nothing I have ever experienced before or since, and every single day I am glad that I had the opportunity to be there.

It was also where I was the day the World Trade Centers were demolished. I stood on the bank of the River Thames on a bright, sunny day - exactly like the one in Manhattan, London's "sister city" - and watched the tv footage. I was miles and miles away from my friends and family, and I looked around in awe as the British continued on about their daily lives. British television took breaks for commercials. Public transportation continued to run. The world around me continued, while 5 hours away, it stopped.

This is the exact same viewpoint that we Americans, "safe" at home, have on the tragedy across the pond. Our instinct was to be critical of European insensitivity after 9/11, yet here they are, now experiencing the same horror. I'm not sure what my point is here... just that now we get a chance to see what they saw. YOU get to see 9/11 through MY eyes. The loss of life in sheer numbers might have been greater, but proportionately it's very close.

The single, most important thing I remember from that experience was the kindness, gallantry and graciousness I felt extended towards me - an American living in London - by the locals. I suppose my sincere hope is that those of us here remember the pain we felt and extend the same courtesy to the British suffering their own personal tragedies here on American soil.


Okay, now I feel better. That's about as "patriotic" as I get.