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Issue date: 9/11/06 Section: News

Media Credit: Robert Benimoff

"9/11 hasn't stopped, it's still here, it's still with us. We can't forget," said Father Robert Romano on Thursday, Sept. 7, during the "9/11 Stories of Survival, Inspiration for the Future" event.

During the event, many of the speakers explained that Sept. 11 was not just one day in history. "It was day after day, week after week, month after month," stated Richard Zimbler, a resident in the financial district. Tania Head, who, with her fiancé, worked at the World Trade Center and whose life was completely changed forever, shared her story of survival with a Baruch audience at the event.

"When you worked [at the WTC] you really felt like you made it to the top of the world," she said. Yet being so high on top didn't seem like such great luck once the planes struck. "We couldn't touch the windows because they were too hot," described Head. She confided that everything really changed when she and her co-workers started to see people jump, and she emphasized that it was "not just one or two," but many jumping off of the North Tower.

They started evacuation and walked down to floor 78 sky lobby, with the intention of taking express elevators, when the second plane hit. This plane crashed into the South Tower from floor 77 to floor 84. The wing of the plane crashed through the lobby where Head was located. Head was hurt and her clothes caught on fire.

"What I witnessed there I will never forget. It was a lot of death and destruction but I also saw hope," she said referring to "the man with red bandana," as media has dubbed him. He saved her life, but lost his life helping firemen in the lobby.

Following Sept 11, Head described herself as totally destroyed and trying to pick up pieces of her life, which she was able to do with an advice from a friend who told her to "find meaning to [her] loss."

"I feel this need to rise above these attacks, these acts of hate," said Head, who serves as co-Chair of the Steering Committee of the World Trade Center Survivors' Network and the WTC-Widows/Widowers as well as being the executive director of Dave's Children, a foundation in memory of her fiancé.

While Head nervously played with her water bottle, Zimbler, who worked across from WTC, informed audience that Dave, Head's fiancé who worked on floor 100 of the North Tower, in fact did not survive the events of Sept. 11. Zimbler admitted that his story isn't as admirable as that of Head or any other's survivors. "I became less afraid of change. [9/11 has] given me, [not restored], my faith in people and in what the ordinary person can accomplish if they decide to make change and help," he stated.

Zimbler recalled meeting volunteers from all parts of the country, including a miner from Pennsylvania who helped build the WTC and was now helping take it apart.

"We needed to reach to our friends in New York," stated Richard Williams, a survivor of the 1996 Oklahoma City bombing. "Several of those people who responded to Oklahoma City were killed in 9/11 and so we became 'Brothers in tragedy.'" Williams, who was contacted by Head, stated that during such times it's important to connect and be with friends. "There is no blueprint for how you are going to heal," he said. However, he did recommend three things that other speakers stressed as well: family, faith and friends.

"There was a lot of faith in NYC," stated Romano disagreeing with Zimbler's comment about lack of faith in New York City. "Three thousand people died, but 20,000 people were saved because of people who ran into the buildings, the unknown soldiers, rather than away." He as the Deputy Chief NYPD Chaplain, celebrated mass at the WTC site until mid-June 2002 and to this day sings "God Bless America" at the end of each mass. To those who object, he has only one thing to say: "Find another parish, find another country."

Romano, who was listening to Howard Stern when he heard of the attack, admitted to having cried when he saw other states' firefighters arrive at the scene, "We were truly United States."

Rabbi Craig Miller, who became a certified Red Cross Chaplain, used his faith to help and unite people. "We were in this together," he said, and despite the friendly jabs at their religious differences, both Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, the FDNY Chaplain, and Romano agreed. Miller also described how Jews, Christians and Muslims grieved together, sharing Kosher food, "We need to take care of ourselves and to take care of one another."

Potasnik recalled a firefighter telling him, "I don't want anything for myself, but for my family and friends I only want tomorrow." Potasnik then added, "That's what we have to do for survivors."

Mohammad Razvi, the executive director of Council of Peoples Organization, discussed the hardships of Muslim communities during this time. He described how hard it was to explain to his children that the people who committed these attacks were said to practice their religion and the times his daughter was pushed down the stairs, and had her scarf pulled off.

Deportation and arrests as well as dealings with federal agents and the Immigration and Naturalization Service were issues that Razvi touched upon. He stressed the importance of legalizing illegal aliens so that they could be tracked, rather than just be arrested for having a suspicious name. Razvi addressed the issues of racial profiling and the delays and searches on airplanes.

Romano, on the other hand, stated that "those little inconveniences are nothing compared to [9/11]."

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