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Two
days after September 11,
2001, I received the following email forwarded by a
friend of a friend who escaped the collapse of World Trade Center
Tower 1.
After
reading this amazing story I forwarded it to a bunch of people, and
then left work in the middle of the day and went to a yoga class. I
thought it was a good way to begin the process to regain a sense of
peace and wellbeing.
The
yoga helped, so I have been practicing yoga most every day since
then. My intention is to share my yoga experience with anyone who is
interested. Please join me as another peaceful warrior whose
intention is to do my part in healing our fragile and injured planet.
The
following email exchange is where my journey began and what inspired
the creation of Y Yoga Movie.
I
share with you my reflection of that day 7 years later.
In peace,
Arthur
Arthur@YYogaMovie.com
www.YYogaMovie.com
http://www.yyogamovie.com/blog/page5.php
-----Original
Message-----
From:
Adam
Sent: Wednesday,
September 12, 2001 16:22 PM
To: xxxx
xxxxx
Subject:
one survivors story.... SO WE NEVER FORGET.
I
am sure that this is one of thousands of stories that will emerge
over the next several days and weeks. I arrived as usual a little
before 8am. My office
was on the 87th floor of 1 World Trade Center, AKA: Tower 1, AKA: the
North Tower. Most of my
associates were in by 8:30m. We were
standing around, joking around, eating breakfast, checking emails,
and getting set for the day when the first plane hit just a few
stories above us. I must stress that we did not know that it was a
plane. The building lurched violently and shook as if it were an
earthquake. People screamed. I watched out my window as the building
seemed to move 10 to 20 feet in each direction. It rumbled and shook
long enough for me to get my wits about myself and grab a co-worker
and seek shelter under a doorway. Light fixtures and parts of the
ceiling collapsed. The kitchen was destroyed. We were certain that it
was a bomb. We looked out the windows. Reams of paper were flying
everywhere, like a ticker tape parade. I looked down at the street. I
could see people in Battery Park City looking up. Smoke started
billowing in through the holes in the ceiling.
I believe that there were 13 of us.
We did not panic. I can only assume that we thought that the worst
was over. The building was standing and we were shaken but alive. We
checked the halls. The smoke was thick and white and did not smell
like I imagined smoke should smell. Not like your BBQ or your
fireplace or even a bonfire. The phones were working. My wife had
taken our 9 month old for his check up. I called my nanny at home and
told her to page my wife, tell her that a bomb went off, I was ok,
and on my way out. I grabbed my laptop. Took off my tee shirt and
ripped it into 3 pieces. Soaked it in water. Gave 2 pieces to my
friends. Tied my piece around my face to act as an air filter. And we
all started moving to the staircase.
One of my dearest friends said that he was staying until the police
or firemen came to get him. In the halls there were tiny fires and
sparks. The ceiling had collapsed in the men 's bathroom. It was gone along with
anyone who may have been in there. We did not go in to look. We
missed the staircase on the first run and had to double back. Once in
the staircase we picked up fire extinguishers just in case. On the
85th floor a brave associate of mine and I headed back up to our
office to drag out my partner who stayed behind. There was no air,
just white smoke. We made the rounds through the office calling his
name. No response. He must have succumbed to the smoke. We left
defeated in our efforts and made our way back to the stairwell. We
proceeded to the 78th floor where we had to change over to a
different stairwell. 78 is the main junction to switch to the upper
floors. I expected to see more people. There were some 50 to 60 more.
Not enough. Wires and fires all over the place. Smoke too. A brave
man was fighting a fire with the emergency hose. I stopped with to
friends to make sure that everyone from our office was accounted for.
We ushered them and confused people into the stairwell.
In retrospect, I recall seeing Harry, my head trader, doing the same
several yards behind me. I am only 35. I have known him for over 14
years. I headed into the stairwell with 2 friends.
We were moving down very orderly in Stair Case A. very slowly. No
panic. At least not overt panic. My legs could not stop shaking. My
heart was pounding. Some nervous jokes and laughter. I made a crack
about ruining a brand new pair of Merrells.
Even still, they were right, my feet felt great. We all laughed. We
checked our cell phones. Surprisingly, there was a very good signal,
but the Sprint network was jammed. I heard that the Blackberry 2 way
email devices worked perfectly. On the phones, 1 out of 20 dial
attempts got through. I knew I could not reach my wife so I called my
parents. I told them what happened and that we were all okay and on
the way down. Soon, my sister in law reached me. I told her we were
fine and moving down. I believe that was about the 65th floor.
We were bored and nervous. I called my friend Angel in San
Francisco. I knew he would be watching. He was
amazed I was on the phone. He told me to get out that there was
another plane on its way. I did not know what he was talking about.
By now the second plane had struck Tower 2. We were so deep into the
middle of our building that we did not hear or feel anything. We had
no idea what was really going on. We kept making way for wounded to
go down ahead of us. Not many of them, just a few. No one seemed
seriously wounded. Just some cuts and scrapes. Everyone cooperated.
Everyone was a hero yesterday. No questions asked. I had co-workers
in another office on the 77th floor. I tried dozens of times to get
them on their cell phones or office lines. It was futile. Later I
found that they were alive. One of the many miracles on a day of
tragedy.
On the 53rd floor we came across a very heavyset man sitting on the
stairs. I asked if he needed help or was he just resting. He needed
help. I knew I would have trouble carrying him because I have a very
bad back. But my friend and I offered anyway. We told him he could
lean on us. He hesitated, I don't know why. I said do you want to
come or do you want us to send help for you. He chose for help. I
told him he was on the 53rd floor in Stairwell A and that's what I
would tell the rescue workers. He said okay and we left.
On the 44th floor my phone rang again. It was my parents. They were
hysterical. I said relax, I'm fine. My father said get out, there is
third plane coming. I still did not understand. I was kind of angry.
What did my parents think? Like I needed some other reason to get
going? I couldn't move the thousand people in front of me any faster.
I know they love me, but no one inside understood what the situation
really was. My parents did. Starting around this floor the firemen,
policemen, WTC K-9 units without the dogs, anyone with a badge,
started coming up as we were heading down. I stopped a lot of them
and told them about the man on 53 and my friend on 87. I later felt
terrible about this. They headed up to find those people and met
death instead.
On the 33rd floor I spoke with a man who somehow new most of the
details. He said 2 small planes hit the building. Now we all started
talking about which terrorist group it was. Was it an internal
organization or an external one? The overwhelming but uninformed
opinion was Islamic Fanatics. Regardless, we now knew that it was not
a bomb and there were potentially more planes coming. We understood.
On the 3rd floor the lights went out and we heard & felt this
rumbling coming towards us from above. I thought the staircase was
collapsing upon itself. It was 10am now and that
was Tower 2 collapsing next door. We did not know that. Someone had a
flashlight. We passed it forward and left the stairwell and headed
down a dark and cramped corridor to an exit. We could not see at all.
I recommended that everyone place a hand on the shoulder of the
person in front of them and call out if they hit an obstacle so
others would know to avoid it. They did. It worked perfectly. We
reached another stairwell and saw a female officer emerge soaking wet
and covered in soot. She said we could not go that way it was
blocked. Go up to 4 and use the other exit. Just as we started up she
said it was ok to go down instead. There was water everywhere. I
called out for hands on shoulders again and she said that was a great
idea. She stayed behind instructing people to do that. I do not know
what happened to her.
We emerged into an enormous room. It was light but filled with smoke.
I commented to a friend that it must be under construction. Then we
realized where we were. It was the second floor. The one that
overlooks the lobby. We were ushered out into the courtyard, the one
where the fountain used to be. My first thought was of a TV movie I
saw once about nuclear winter and fallout. I could not understand
where all of the debris came from. There was at least five inches of
this gray pasty dusty drywall soot on the ground as well as a
thickness of it in the air. Twisted steel and wires. I heard there
were bodies and body parts as well, but I did not look. It was bad
enough. We hid under the remaining overhangs and moved out to the
street. We were told to keep walking towards Houston
Street. The odd thing is that there
were very few rescue workers around. Less than five. They all must
have been trapped under the debris when Tower 2 fell. We did not know
that and could not understand where all of that debris came from. It
was just my friend Kern and I now. We were hugging but sad. We felt
certain that most of our friends ahead of us died and we knew no one
behind us.
We came upon a post office several blocks away. We stopped and looked
up. Our building, exactly where our office is (was), was engulfed in
flame and smoke. A postal worker said that Tower 2 had fallen down. I
looked again and sure enough it was gone. My heart was racing. We
kept trying to call our families. I could not get in touch with my
wife. Finally I got through to my parents. Relived is not the word to
explain their feelings. They got through to my wife, thank G-d and
let her know I was alive. We sat down. A girl on a bike offered us
some water. Just as she took the cap off her bottle we heard a
rumble. We looked up and our building, Tower 1 collapsed. I did not note
the time but I am told it was 10:30am. We had been
out less than 15 minutes.
We were mourning our lost friends, particularly the one who stayed in
the office as we were now sure that he had perished. We started
walking towards Union
Square. I was going to Beth Israel Medical Center to be looked
at. We stopped to hear the President speaking on the radio. My phone
rang. It was my wife. I think I fell to my knees crying when I heard
her voice. Then she told me the most incredible thing. My partner who
had stayed behind called her. He was alive and well. I guess we just
lost him in the commotion. We started jumping and hugging and
shouting. I told my wife that my brother had arranged for a hotel in
midtown. He can be very resourceful in that way. I told her I would
call her from there. My brother and I managed to get a gypsy cab to
take us home to Westchester instead. I
cried on my son and held my wife until I fell asleep.
As it turns out my partner, the one who I thought had stayed behind
was behind us with Harry Ramos, our head trader. I guess they moved 1
floor every 1.5 minutes. Just a guess. This means Harry wad around
the 20th floor when the building collapsed. As of now 12 of 13 people
are accounted for. As of 6pm yesterday
his wife had not heard from him. I fear that Harry is lost. However,
a short while ago I heard that he may be alive. Apparently there is a
web site with survivor names on it and his name appears there.
Unfortunately, Ramos is not an uncommon name in New York. Pray for
him and all those like him.
With regards to the firemen heading upstairs, I realize that they
were going up anyway. But, it hurts to know that I may have made them
move quicker to find my friend. Rationally, I know this is not true
and that I am not the responsible one. The responsible ones are in
hiding somewhere on this planet and damn them for making me feel like this. But they
should know that they failed in terrorizing us. We were calm. Those
men and women that went up were heroes in the face of it all. They
must have known what was going on and they did their jobs. Ordinary
people were heroes too.
Today
the images that people around the world equate with power and
democracy are gone but "America" is not
an image it is a concept. That concept is only strengthened by our
pulling together as a team. If you want to kill us, leave us alone
because we will do it by ourselves. If you want to make us stronger,
attack and we unite. This is the ultimate failure of terrorism
against The United States and the ultimate price we pay to be free,
to decide where we want to work, what we want to eat, and when &
where we want to go on vacation.
The
very moment the first plane was hijacked, democracy won.
My
reply to Adam's email-----Original Message-----
From: Arthur Klein
Sent: Thursday,
September 13, 2001 3:43 PM
To: Adam
Subject: Survivor's Story from the 87th Floor of WTC 1
Dear Adam,
Deb and Allan forwarded your message, and I am grateful that they
did. I am sitting at my desk, tears streaming down my cheeks having
just read your account of this tragedy. Thank you for taking the time
to share your inner most personal and private thoughts as well as
your visions of this unfathomable series of disastrous events. I hope
to think that I would have had the ability and clear headedness to
react as you did, with such spirit.
Thank you for sharing, it gives me perspective and I believe it is my
first step in starting to heal and comprehend this insanity. I hope
you don't mind, but I will forward this inspiring and hopeful image of
a day where there weren't many such encouraging images.
Sincerely and with deep respect,
Arthur
Adam's reply my email
Arthur,
I just wanted to thank you for taking the time to think of me. I had
not intended for my email to become this big international
"thing" which it quite obviously has. If you were unaware
it has been translated into French and ran in the Saturday edition of
La Liberation, one of the French National newspapers. Furthermore, it
has been in the Sunday Edition of The L.A.Times
as well as other American papers. It was just intended for my family
and friends but now I am quite happy to share it with all. I have
received over 1000 emails from around the world and am humbled by
your response.
G-d Bless and be strong,
Adam
Arthur@YYogaMovie.com
website:
http://www.YYogaMovie.com
Blog:
http://www.yyogamovie.com/blog/page5.php
Review of Y
Yoga Movie:
http://www.yyogamovie.com/images/YYM_LA_YOGA_Mag_Review.jpg
Endorsements:
http://www.yyogamovie.com/images/YYM_MySpace_Endorsements_asof_2008-09-07.pdf
Purchase
Y Yoga Movie DVD, Score or Soundtrack
http://www.yyogamovie.com/store/page22.html
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Vegas Screening information:
http://www.yyogamovie.com/images/YYM_Screening%20Flyer_v-3.0_LV
LULULEMON_2008-09-28_(1080x1350_RGB_8bit_72dpi).jpg
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