Saturday, September 11, 2010

The loss of innocence....


This post is a themed writing project challenge taken from Jenny Matlock from off on my tangent.

Jenny says we can use UP to 100 words (not including the prompt) to tell our story. It can be fact or fiction. The only restriction is: The prompt must be left intact WHICH MEANS you cannot split up the words in the prompt.


Below is my story, the prompt is in BOLD italics…


I remember eating lunch watching my mother sob as she sat on the couch in front of the TV.

In the early afternoon November 22, 1963 mothers, people everywhere doing the same thing.

A bright young soul taken from us, his leaving so unexpected it cast a glaring spotlight on the vulnerability of an entire nation.

My mother held us tight that cold November day.

I stood frozen in front of the flickering images on my TV , a sunny September 11, 2001 knowing I was witnessing something far worse.

My first thought was gathering my loved ones to keep them safe and protected.

But I knew that wasn’t possible.

Not anymore.

"Walk toward the sunshine and the shadows will fall behind you"

19 comments:

  1. Septeber 11th, 2010
    Hi Koby,
    Thanks for visitng my SC-post about 9/11.
    This is the comment I left on my own blog. I'll leave it here too:

    To this day I do not know whether or not Sylvia was there, or if she is alive or well or anything.

    But this has more to do with the fact that I live abroad and have lost track of most of my school mates from college.

    There is the possibility of checking on her through the university, but I have just have not had the time to do it. But I will. I do want to know if she is alright.

    Silvia was/is a 'Closet Swede' too. If you read this, Sylvia Dahlgren, please let me know that you are alright. You can leave a comment here.

    I do know of a girl who really did have a close call though. The daughter of one of my teachers at VCU worked part time at a restaurant in one of the buildings near the World Trade Center that collapsed after the towers fell. She was scheduled to work that morning, but there was a last minute change in scheduling and she was to work the afternoon shift. So she stayed at home while seven of her co-workers, people she knew and worked with, perished that day.
    But, as far as I know, she's fine today. I keeps tabs on her through FaceBook.

    My SC-text is based on facts, but is rearranged/fictionalised slightly to make it work. When the planes flew into the twin towers I was at work as a telephone-interviewer for telemarketing in Sweden. So the time of day is not the same as in New York. There is a six-hour time-difference. The sun rises in the east, so it is six hours later where I am now. It is true that I was expecting my first baby, but I was not at home in the kitchen, lazily making plans for the new baby. I was working trying to earn money while I still could.

    Thanks for stopping by!
    Best wishes,
    Anna
    For the benefit of other readers:

    Anna's SC-Remembering 9/11

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  2. Thanks Anna for filling us in...please visit anytime.

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  3. This was wonderful bringing two events together when the whole country was watching at the same time. Good job.

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  4. Hey Koby, thanks for visiting . I'm sorry but I don't know who you are referring to. Who died November 22, 1963 ? what is that all about? just wonderin .

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  5. You know Jackie..it never entered my noggin that the date November 22, 1963 would not be understood by all. The first job of a writer is to be understood..sorry!

    The 35th President of the United States of America, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated on that date in Dallas Texas.

    Read about him here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy

    Please visit again.

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  6. Amen to that, Koby! I remember when the nation mourned Kennedy, none of us thought there could be anything worse...until 9/11.

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  7. Koby: *facepalm :p of course it's JFK ! I didn't know the date, but, I do now , thanks .

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  8. I'm terrible with dates and names and things anyway. The more time I spend on my computer ,the more I lose my mind , seriously. You think I can remember the date Elvis died? ...no. maybe I am just going senile . I know it is sometime in August 1977?

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  9. Well done. I wasn't born yet when Kennedy died, but I remember my mother telling me about it. Nice job linking the two events. Perfect last line.

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  10. Hi Tina , me neither but I surely heard about it :D

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  11. I'm pretty bad with dates too, but this one sticks out as I remember so clearly my mom being so sad.

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  12. Wonderfully done. I always find myself relating these two incidents that marked our country. Like everyone who was alive for both, I clearly remember what I was doing, thinking, and feeling.

    And you're right. The twin towers WAS worse, because there was no sure security after that happened.

    Thanks.

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  13. Wonderful story, Koby! I love how you linked the past and the present like that. Two tragedies of two separate generations. Very well done!

    I know I cried my eyes out when Kennedy was shot. Of course I was just one year old, so I probably did that a lot anyway. :o)

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  14. I always lump Kennedy, Watergate, the Challenger explosion and now, 9/11, as the events that changed how I think and feel about being an American.

    It seems we need something of horrific proportions to get us all feeling like one nation.

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  15. I did something similar. 11/22 was the end of a dream; 9/11 was the end of safety.

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  16. Such a refreshingly different take on this prompt...and I well remember where I was when I heard about JFK...heard it on my grandmother's old bakelite radio...Peace

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  17. That is another date I remember. So clearly. So vividly.

    Thank you for this compelling and moving link.

    This feels like such a solemn week of reading on the SC, but I'm glad we're doing this in memorium.

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  18. I do think these days are tied together in so many people's memories as the days that innocence died. Well done.

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  19. That was so well written thank you

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