Steve has very kindly let me know that I did not see a terrorist symbol but instead a stylized version of the South Carolina state flag.
And just for the record, I may be a Yankee with “odd notions” but I live too close to Ground Zero for comfort.
As a child, I used to go with my father to a park where we could look across the Hudson River and see the World Trade Center being built. It was to be the tallest building in the world and he wanted us to see it happen.
At the very tollbooth we drove through on Monday (exit 12 of the NJ Turnpike) we could see the Twin Towers as we waited to pay for the privilege of driving on that particular highway (but that’s a rant for another day).
I’m a North Jersey native, and many of the villains of 9/11 roamed my hometown.
I am glad that it was a South Carolina sticker on that car, but I don’t think I will ever really breathe easy again.
awww, I was just kidding you about the “yankee” stuff! If it makes you feel any better, I may have lived in the Carolinas all my life, but I was born in Neptune NJ.I just knew when I read that post that something sounded familiar about that “Mushroom cloud and crescent moon”, and right then, a BMW with that very sticker passed me on his way towards Rock Hill SC and it hit me!BTW, have you seen the National geogaphic special on 9/11? Not so much grim, but it was going thru how it all began, as far back as the Russians invading Afghanistan. really insightful,well worth the time to watch.
barb – not a day doesn’t go by when i don’t think about 9/11. we were in midtown and after the first building went down – i looked at my then boyfriend (now husband) and said get me out of this city. at the time – we spent most of our time at his place in cliffside park. i will never forget two days later – the wind direction changed – and we could totally smell the smoke. i think that your reaction to the car sticker was not out of line. that awareness will always be with us.
Yes, I know you were kidding about the Yankee stuff. No harm done, no offense taken.Actually I am very glad to know that the sticker was totally harmless. That hole in the skyline makes us a bit paranoid at times.
I’m sorry…I’m trying hard not to laugh, because I understand the paranoia stuff really well. After the fed building blew up, my husband and I spent the better part of two days trying to find out if his sister and mother were okay (both of them worked across the street) and if my uncle was alive (he runs a courier business that made its first deliveries every morning to that building). Now when we visit Ok City, they sky line of downtown seems oddly vacant. I know it has been ten years, but it still feels like yesterday to us, and the paranoia never really diminishes. We lost two family friends that day, and one of my DH’s highschool friends lost her child. To me April is just as harsh a month as September is now.
I don’t mind if you laugh….we are….and it’s largely out of relief this time.If we can’t laugh at ourselves we are in serious trouble, I think.I’m very sorry for your loss. In our case, all we lost was peace of mind, and that was more than enough.
I think that peace of mind is just as big of a loss as losing a loved one. You have every right to feel fearful at times.