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We Will Go Back To Life As Usual;
But We'll Never Forget

By MICHAEL SCHENKLER

(Sunday, September 23, 2001 — Day 13) Will it ever be the same?

I’m an optimist. Yes it will be the same; but we shall not forget.

The memory of that day in September 2001 — the eleventh — will be indelibly etched in the memory of all those old enough to understand and recorded in the history books for those too young and those yet to be born.  Americans . . . no all mankind . . .will look back at that day and the attacks as one of the moments in history where the hand of evil reached out across the abyss and sent shivers up and down the spine of humanity.

The date, the moment, the act will stand forever as a moment of horror and sadness to mankind and a rallying cry for people of freedom     everywhere.

For New Yorkers, it means a bit more. Our space was invaded. Our skyline altered forever. Our physical well being, threatened. We know our safety is now at risk.

Will life ever again be the same?

Sure it will.

I write this, not as a political columnist sharing perceptions and knowledge to a perhaps less informed readership. I write this as one of millions of New Yorkers and Americans who have witnessed acts of terror against our nation and mankind and who joins hands with the rest of our city and nation to rebuild and celebrate our strength together.

I write this because I suffer.

Yesterday, Lil and I attended the wedding of Tribune artist, our webmistress, Julie Messina to her longtime hoohah Nelson Palacios. The Bayside couple had a beautiful Saturday afternoon church ceremony and a loud, celebratory Saturday night feast.

The wedding was not unlike the many weddings of a variety of faiths we’ve all attended: moving, touching and about love and marriage.

Yes, there were those few words of prayer that were there because of the vicious acts of September 11:

 “For our world. to keep the promise of peace, we pray to our Lord.”

 “For our country, to keep the promise of freedom, we pray to our Lord.”

 “For our deceased loved ones, . . . and those who lost their lives in the World Trade Center and other parts of the U.S. we pray to the Lord.”

Yes, the ceremony was altered just a bit, but basically everything was the same.

We drove to the church, and later the affair, noticing nothing was changed on the pretty residential streets, the commercial strips, the highways or the crowded residential blocks except for the omnipresence of flags.

New Yorkers, probably all Americans, are wearing their colors proudly.

Most homes, most stores, most overpasses and many a car and signpost proudly boast the red, white and blue. Lapel ribbons are becoming as stylish as Gap t-shirts in our fair City and nation

There is one change: the flag is beginning to belong to all of us.

Let me explain.

Those of us who are children of the sixties — who lived through the Vietnam conflict, protesting our nation’s military actions in Southeast Asia — lost the flag to those that favored the U.S. war effort. The “doves,” as we were known, abandoned the symbolic flag and the war it represented to the “hawks,” who were more than happy to embrace the flag and war. It was waved by them — not us. And all these many years later, they still claimed it.

Well perhaps the flag no longer belongs to them. It belongs to all of us. No, I’m not trying to take it back; I’m trying to claim our small share.

You can turn it into ribbons; you can wear it; my daughter can make a peace sign out of it; you can put Towers on it; you can do whatever you want with it — it’s yours. It’s ours.

Now, maybe the guys on the right don’t agree with our use of the flag. However, it seems before those petty political arguments have merit, we are all Americans — proud, united and strong.

This worst act of mankind in my lifetime has brought out the best in our city and country. I wonder whether our new American brother and sisterhood will remain?

Also changed, our attitude toward police. Although that change has evolved slowly since the sixties, when the police mistreated us and our brothers and sisters on picket lines, our new-found respect for them was reaffirmed. It doesn’t mean we have forgotten Amadou Diallo, Patrick Dorismond, Abner Luima and others wronged. It does mean that we have rediscovered a new respect and recognition of the greatness in New York’s finest.

And there too, our differences seem to pale in comparison to our unity. Racial divides do not seem as deep. And beneath, everyone’s skin seems to be red, white and blue.

And I am embarrassed that it was not since my childhood that I admired firefighters. New York’s Bravest are just that.

And there is our City of marvelous New Yorkers. I’m proud to be one.

And I’m proud to be an American . . . and I hope that never changes.

Yes, things will come back; but we shall never forget.

Sports came back this weekend.

Although the opening ceremonies of Friday night’s Mets game was awe-inspiring, bringing many to tears, for Mets fans, it was the outcome of the game that truly inspired hope.

During the wedding celebration last night, those of us that took news breaks — running into the bar or checking web info phones — were not looking for the latest deployment of American troops, but for the score of the Mets game as they march on the comeback trail, inspiring us all to have faith.

Sure the news coverage has changed. The dailies, magazines and weeklies have most of their copy space devoted to the tragedy and our response. Likewise, TV news has expanded coverage with economic impact added to the mix. 

But that too shall change. The New York Primary Election, a runoff 14 days later, will receive coverage.  Other news will begin to creep in. And slowly, as long as our shores remain safe and our effort abroad effective, life will hobble back to the ordinary.

Sure the travel industry is hurt. It’ll take some serious airline security measures and a couple of years, but that too will be back to the way it was.

We all must be part of the recovery.

I’m looking to do what the Mayor asked me to do — get back to life as usual.

I’m doing my part — writing my column while watching football and baseball — how American.

And I’m not selling stock. I can wait for recovery.

I’m not altering my lifestyle — significantly.

I’m going to try to abandon — at least for now — purchasing any thing on the internet. Buying in New York is the correct thing to do. Our small business community is what Queens and much of the City is all about. We each can do our part.

For those of us reluctant, for the moment, to spend much leisure time in Manhattan, eat out in Queens. We have some marvelous restaurants. La Baraka in Little Neck for French Mediterranean; Café on the Green in Bayside for Northern Italian; Elias’ Corner in Astoria for fish; the Door in St. Albans for Caribbean; Jackson Heights for Latino; Astoria for Greek; Flushing for Asian; there’s Gebhardt’s and Niederstein’s for German.

Queens offers the finest in dining from the world’s cuisines. Eat out; it’s patriotic and fun.

Our country does have some very serious days ahead. Protecting our homeland — there’s a new concept for you — and prosecuting a “war” against terrorism is sure to be at the center of our lives for a long time to come.

We shall debate.

We shall disagree.

We shall criticize and we shall shout.

We shall suffer losses.

We shall not forget the vile acts of September 11.

But above all, we have rediscovered something lost in the sixties.

We are Americans.

We are proud and creative.

We have a flag.

And we are not required to agree.

And if we can all remember that, maybe I don’t want things to ever be the same again.

Watching The Ballgame 
While Writing The Column

And as I sit at my desk at home, keyboarding this into my computer, as usual, I have the TV on and the remote by my side. But for the first time in 13 days I’m not surfing the news coverage of the “Attack on America” or “America Fights Back.” I’m flipping between the third game in the Mets series with Atlanta and the Giants football game. Both stadiums seemed to be jam-packed with people. It’s like every other beginning of fall.

As it approaches 3 p.m., the broadcast of the prayer ceremonies at Yankee Stadium is added to my surfing.

But the channel surfing is becoming more difficult. Late in the game, the Mets lead is holding as is the Giants while Rudy, George, Schumer and the Clintons are entering to the singing of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” — I pause to watch James Earl Jones introduce the prayer service.

He says: “What we share as Americans and human beings is far greater than what divides us.”

Oprah, speaking of the lost: “Their stories are our stories.”

And they applauded soldiers.

And on Fox, the Giants win.

And the Mets game in the ninth gets closer . . .

And CBS takes off the Yankee Stadium prayer service and goes to the Jets Game.

ABC still airs the service and our hero Rudy is speaking.

And the Mets with one out away from victory still struggle.

Another game replaces the Giants on Fox and Rudy’s still speaking.

And the Jets pre-game show is filled with patriotism.

And the Braves tie the Mets.

And New York’s St. John’s grad John Franco, wearing an FDNY cap in honor of the fallen firefighters, comes in to get the third out. And the Mets are in extra innings.

And religious leaders of all the major religions of the world pray together at Yankee Stadium.

And as the Boys and Girls Choir of Harlem sings, Rudy and Bill Clinton and Hillary and Chuck Schumer and thousands of others join hands and join in singing “We Shall Overcome:”

And we shall live in peace someday, Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe, we shall live in peace someday.

And Governor George Pataki  addressed the crowd at Yankee Stadium.

And a Muslim leader prays and declares his love for people of all faiths and condemns the terrorists defiling his religion. “We are Muslims; but we are Americans. Amen.”

And the New York Giants won today.

And Lee Greenwood sang “Proud To Be An American.”

And sadly, in extra innings, the New York Mets at Shea Stadium, after a valiant effort, didn’t win today.

And the City of New York, at Yankee Stadium, continued their remarkable comeback . . .

And the City of New York won today.

And America won today.

And tomorrow.

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Michael Schenkler can be reached at: MSchenkler@QueensTribune.com

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