It is raining in New York today. It is raining hard and the winds are high. The surf is rough. It seems apropos for my mood this day. This Day of Remembrance.
I purposefully needed silence. It seemed the best way for me to honor those who were taken from this World on September 11, 2001. It is hard to believe 8 years have gone by and we still believe violence is the answer. There is a poll on facebook (and I am sure other social networks) asking whether September 11th should be a holiday.
I did not answer the poll as many of my “friends” were answering in the positive and my answer stating “no” seemed unfeeling without an explanation. I do not think it should be a holiday. Look what happened to Memorial Day. It is now the unofficial start of Summer and sales at Wal-Mart for barbeque aprons and coolers. The beaches open. Veterans of Foreign War stand in front of Waldbaums selling plastic poppies to remember the veterans who passed. We toss a dollar in the can and feel as if we have contributed to the memory of the dead while carrying a red, white and blue sheet cake to the annual Memorial Day Pool Party at Jim’s house.
Will September 11th become the unofficial closing of summer? Celebrated by many but the meaning lost for just a surviving few? I do not know. I don’t think I want to know.
So, in my silence I took a ride in my van to the Boardwalk. I drove up and parked just so that I could see the surf pound and not get wet by the rain driving sideways against the passenger side of the van. A few runners went by as they touched the iron rail in their ritual of finalizing their two and ¼-mile stretch of wooden planks.
Then I saw him. A man I first thought was a local cop. He then moved and I read his shirt, FDNY. He looked out at the angry Atlantic standing between two benches as the rain just continued to fall. I felt I was intruding on his silent grief. New York City Fireman have a unique bond. They are made of stuff the Universe sprinkles on a select few.
A runner passed, touched the rail and flitted by. He stood so still. He looked up and let the rain attempt to wash some of his sadness. He bent down at the bench, pulled out a can of Budweiser from a black plastic deli bag, and opened it saluting the water, saluting his friends. He seemed so young to me. He drained the can, walked it over to the nearby garbage can, and then tried to light a cigarette between drops.
I felt compelled to get out of my stupid warm dry van and say something to him. He turned and noticed me being a voyeur on his Remembrance. I nodded. We did not share any particular moment just an acknowledgement that there was another person nearby. I felt so inadequate I couldn’t do something to help him through this moment. We were both so isolated even though we were so close.
I drove home and needed to do something. So I zipped in the house, grabbed a towel, and returned to the same spot, hoping to offer some silly trivial comfort like a dry towel.
He was already gone not even a sign of the deli bag that held the beer. The surf was still high. The waves continued to be angry; as so many are when senselessness overwhelms the silence.
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( 3 / 517 )Some things just strike me as funny
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( 3 / 1116 )SEPTA ordered to install elevators for disabled
By Allison Steele
Philadelphia Inquirer Staff Writer
After six years of legal wrangling, a judge has ordered SEPTA to install
elevators for disabled passengers at two major stations.
Ruling Friday in a lawsuit by Disabled in Action of Pennsylvania, U.S.
District Judge Gene E.K. Pratter ordered SEPTA to build elevators in the
courtyards at 15th and Market Streets and in the center of City Hall.
Those areas have staircases or escalators leading to the Market-Frankford
and Broad Street lines.
"This is, purely and simply, about civil rights and equal access," Steve
Gold, the attorney for the disability-rights organization, said yesterday.
"Disabled Americans have the right to access these stations."
SEPTA spokesman Gary Fairfax said yesterday that he had not seen the
ruling and could not comment yet.
Nancy Salandra, president of DIA's board, said she was thrilled. "The
judge did the right thing," she said. "This was a very frustrating process
for us."
The lawsuit argued that SEPTA should have installed elevators in 2002 and
2003, when escalators and stairways in those areas were replaced. SEPTA
argued that disabled passengers could get to the 15th and Market station
by taking an elevator on 16th Street between JFK Boulevard and Market
Street, which takes passengers down to a concourse.
That elevator is about 340 feet from the station, DIA argued, meaning that
disabled people would have to travel significantly farther than other
passengers.
"When you're talking about equal access and discrimination, it's not a
money issue," Gold said.
According to the ruling, SEPTA's director of engineering said installing
the elevator at City Hall would cost about $2 million and said in a
deposition that as far as he knew, it could be done.
Disability-rights organizations have been battling SEPTA over compliance
with the American With Disabilities Act since the law was enacted in 1990.
In 1993, a group of people in wheelchairs sued SEPTA because buses were
not always equipped with working lifts. In 2001, a judge ordered the
agency to improve access to its paratransit vans, which transport disabled
passengers and seniors, and implemented steep fines if SEPTA failed to
provide a rider with a requested trip.
Contact staff writer Allison Steele at 215-854-2641 or
asteele@phillynews. com.
SEPTA ordered to install elevators for disabled | Philadelphia Inquirer |
09/13/2009
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/pa/20090913_ SEPTA_ordered_ to_install_elevators_for_disabled.html
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( 3 / 81 )Interesting to follow some of the procedures of the EEOC.
http://eeoc.gov/press/8-24-09.html
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( 3 / 97 )Perceived Barriers to Exercise Research Survey
The Reeve-Irvine Research Center is conducting a research study to determine more details about the perceived barriers to exercise experienced by men and women with spinal cord injuries. The information gained from this study will provide valuable information to scientists who study how exercise influences different aspects of health, specific to SCI. They need this information in order to better create exercise programs that a large majority of people with SCI can participate in and that are effective for their health. For more information please contact Dr. Kim Anderson at kanderso@uci.edu
All information will be kept strictly confidential.
http://www.scisurveys.org/phpQ
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