May 22, 2002
From the desk of Mindles H. Dreck:Another day in downtown NYC
My building was partially evacuated today because of a novelty paperweight.
Discovered in a file drawer with some other items, the WWII grenade was empty but still had its detonating mechanism. The workers who discovered it called the police, who asked three floors (including mine) of the building to go outside. It took 45 minutes for the bomb squad to arrive.
For some reason, everybody bunched up across the street. As a colleague of mine who fought in Vietnam observed, the best thing to do is spread out. It would be too easy for someone to phone in a bomb threat and then mow down the assembled population outside. Also, if the grenade (or something worse) had gone off, we would have been under the windows.
We adapt slowly to this new world of constant threats and supposedly inevitable attacks.
I missed the first part of this scene because I visited my asthma specialist today. Tests show there has been significant deterioration in my pulmonary function compared to last summer. He accused me of being in denial by not visiting me sooner after September.
My doctor happens to be in charge of a series of studies at Beth Israel on the long-term pulmonary effects on workers at Ground Zero. It is early days, but he expressed serious concerns with what he's seen so far. He also suggested the air testing around the site has been poorly designed and executed. For instance, he claims they were apparently testing for the wrong size asbestos fiber for months.
All of this in addition to the helicopters buzzing around the statue of liberty, the uniformed and plain-clothed presence at the Stock Exchange, and the traffic snarl around the Brooklyn Bridge.
Not a day goes by when I don't think about September 11 - after all, I see the site all the time. But some days it is just relentlessly in your face.
I fully expect Steven Den Beste will have some trenchant observations on the efficacy of a WWII fragmentation grenade for urban terrorism. Actually, I'm looking forward to it. Bloggers are usually a bright spot in the day.
Posted by Mindles H. Dreck at May 22, 2002 9:47 PM | Technorati inbound links"); ?>