As clear as that cloudless September morning, Jenna Jacobs McPartland remembers the moment everything changed.
asserted
everything → remember → moment
“I was cleaning the bathroom and watching the Today show in the background and nine months pregnant,” the 52-year-old recalls by phone.
asserted
old → clean → phone
“I think they were showing ‘Today throws a wedding’ when the news broke in.”
asserted
news → think → wedding
A plane had hit the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York.
asserted
plane → hit → York
McPartland did not know that her husband, Ariel Jacobs, was attending a conference at its Windows on the World restaurant.
asserted
husband → know → restaurant
“I called his office to say, ‘Hey, turn on the TV.
asserted
I → call → TV
Do you guys know what’s going on?’
asserted
what → know → ?
His assistant said, ‘Oh my God, Jenna, he’s there.’
asserted
he → say → ?
The whole world disappeared and there was this sort of hollow collapsing feeling.”
asserted
world → disappear → feeling
Ariel Jacobs did not live to see his son, Gabriel, born six days after September 11, 2001.
asserted
Jacobs → live → September
McPartland, then living in Briarcliff Manor, New York, would marry twice more, set up a grief support charity, and become a chef and restaurateur.
asserted
McPartland → live → charity
Each 9/11 anniversary, she has a picnic at the cemetery where a few pieces of bone from her late husband are buried.
asserted
pieces → have → husband
Speaking from Fairfield, Connecticut, McPartland says: “Ari was an incredibly joyful person who cherished his life.
asserted
who → speak → life
I made a conscious choice to honour him by living as joyfully as I can.
asserted
I → make → him
It’s not always easy.
asserted
It → ’ → ?
I still cry pretty frequently.
asserted
I → cry → ?
If there’s a movie with a building getting blown up, or if I’m reading a book and they casually mention ‘post 9-11 this’ or whatever, it catches me off guard.
asserted
it → ’ → guard
The grief finds a place to live in the heart, and you visit it.”
asserted
you → find → it
McPartland and other victims’ families have learned to live with that grief over the past 25 years.
asserted
McPartland → learn → years
But America writ large has struggled to carry the weight of the worst terrorist attack in its history.
asserted
America → writ → history
The world’s most powerful nation responded by inflicting terror of its own, betraying its history as a safe harbour for immigrants, and pitting Americans against one another.
asserted
nation → respond → one
The initial heroism, goodwill and unity of 9/11 gave way to discord at home and diminished moral authority abroad.
asserted
heroism → give → home
McPartland adds: “It makes me incredibly sad and bordering on angry that the death of my husband has been invoked to cause more violence.
asserted
death → add → violence
It is the othering of people that got him killed in the first place and, when we Americans fail to learn that lesson and choose collectively as a nation to other people, whether it’s immigrants or other nations, that is a deepening of that tragedy that is sickening and unfathomable to me.”
asserted
that → get → me
On September 10, 2001 George W Bush travelled to Florida to push education reform legislation.
asserted
Bush → travel → legislation
AOL was seeking a big stake in AT&T’s cable unit.
asserted
AOL → seek → unit
Promising tennis player Lleyton Hewitt, 20, had just swept Pete Sampras aside to win the US Open.
asserted
Hewitt → promise → Open
America seemed unassailable.
asserted
America → seem → ?
It had won the cold war and enjoyed a relatively peaceful 1990s as “the indispensable nation”, in secretary of state Madeleine Albright’s framing.
asserted
It → win → framing
From fiscal years 1998 to 2001, the federal government recorded four consecutive budget surpluses.
asserted
government → record → surpluses
But what had been dubbed “the American century” came to an apocalyptic end on the next morning.
asserted
dubbed → dub → morning
Nearly 3,000 people were killed as 19 al-Qaida hijackers seized control of four airliners, slamming two of the planes into the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and the fourth into a field in western Pennsylvania.
asserted
hijackers → kill → Pennsylvania
Among the most wrenching images were office workers leaping to their deaths from the burning twin towers.
asserted
workers → leap → towers
On the wall of the national September 11 museum in New York is a quotation from James Gilroy, a resident of lower Manhattan: “She had a business suit on, her hair was all askew …
asserted
hair → have → Manhattan
This woman stood there for what seemed like minutes, then she held down her skirt and then jumped off the ledge …
asserted
she → stand → ledge
I thought, how human, how modest, to hold down her skirt before she jumped.
asserted
she → think → skirt
Unthinkably, both of the 110-storey towers collapsed, unleashing giant clouds of ash and dust on the streets of lower Manhattan as fragments of paper fluttered down like confetti.
asserted
fragments → collapse → confetti
David Blight, a historian who advised the museum, which opened in 2014, said: “It’s the most visual event in history – so photographed, so much footage, so many documentaries.
asserted
It → advise → history
It is so shocking, so horrifying that you can’t watch it without a certain weeping.
asserted
you → watch → weeping
One of the things that should never stop about 9/11 is the essential grief of it.
asserted
that → stop → it
…and 80 more, not listed.
The Aporia
