To the Editor:
9-11, a day that lives in our hearts and memories. A day that, for more and more of us, will be taught as history, not remembered as a personal experience. What do you think of when you reflect on that day? The planes hitting the Twin Towers? The gaping hole in the Pentagon? The wreckage strewn across the field near Shanksville, Pa.?
Some of us think about it constantly, every day. We spent days, weeks, months, in what the New York Daily News described as the "toxic wreckage" of the World Trade Center site. Even the EPA knew about excessive amounts of asbestos at Ground Zero in 2003, but changed the language in their reports to minimize the perceived danger. My last day at Ground Zero was Dec. 1, 2001, and the fires were still burning in the wreckage when I left, spewing harmful fumes into the air.
Just last month, the New York Post reported that diagnoses of 9-11 related cancers have tripled in the last two and a half years. At least 1,140 responders have already died due to 9-11 related illnesses. Both of these numbers are expected to increase substantially over time, as latent cancers and other conditions become symptomatic.
Time marches on. More and more of us will know 9-11 from a history book or from the stories the rest of us tell. Please remember those who were killed on 9-11, and remember us who were afterward, are paying the price for our service. Make us part of your story.
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Richard Rezac
Highmore
