Remembering new york
The skyline changed on Sept. 11 and so did the lives of the homeless
LARRY BAILLIE VOLUNTEER STAFF
Almost every person in the world remembers where they were on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. In my case, I went for a run the evening before, training to fulfill one of my dreams — to run the New York City marathon. On that fateful morning, my dreams came crashing down with the twin towers. It was not till the end of September that the marathon committee decided to run the race as always on the first Sunday in November.
What better way to learn about a city than to talk to people from that city in non-tourist areas? A police sergeant that stood at the street corner of Times Square told me about things to see and do while in New York. He also went into great detail about the events that took place on Sept. 11 and how they affected his family, personal and professional life. He also explained that the homeless were one of the most affected populations.
He explained to me that many of the homeless people in Manhattan live in and around the subway lines. The twin towers were the transportation hub of lower Manhattan — many of the historic locations of New York City were within blocks of the twin towers, the city's business hub. Underneath the twin towers was a maze of subway and rail lines. The vast amounts of water used to extinguish the fires started that day flooded all of the subway and rail lines in lower Manhattan. For almost a month and a half, all subway lines south of Canal Street (lower Manhattan) were inaccessible. This meant that thousands of homeless people who lived in the subway lines of Manhattan had no place to live, and the people that work with the homeless were now all dealing with their own personal tragedies.
One night, I entered a closed subway station by mistake. Something appeared different: hundreds of homeless people were settling in for the night. One of the people that was settling in for the night came over, explaining that the subway line was closed for the evening. Since I live with cognitive impairments I could
not comprehend what he was saying. He then helped me out of the subway line,
trying to explain where there was an open subway line that would take me back
to my hotel. Since it was late, I was tired and very confused. I walked in
front of traffic, just about getting hit several times. This man jumped off
the curb and pulled me to safety. At that time, I explained to him about the
cognitive impairments I live with because of my brain injury. He then told
me not to worry and he walked a very scared and confused tourist to an open
subway line.
While sitting on the train, I realized the kindness, empathy and understanding a total stranger had toward me. The individual that helped me was the type of person that the police would keep away from tourists. While he was walking with me to an open subway line, he narrated how the events of 9/11 affected him and his friends and how it appeared that nobody cared. It dawned on me that by helping me, he would lose his place to sleep for the evening. This got me thinking how many homeless people were affected by the events of 9/11 and how nobody heard about them. These are people that cities would like to forget about and yet this man was my hero and his actions kept me safe that night.
In the case of any disaster, people can rely on their friends and families for support and understanding. Many of the homeless people of Manhattan had very little contact with their families. So every year on the anniversary of Sept. 11, I think about the homeless people that lived in the subway lines of Manhattan rather than focusing on pretty flowers. For the past five years I have never heard or seen a story on the plight of the homeless that were displaced that fateful morning in September. What I saw was a whole different side of humanity. So every Sept. 11, I think about the man that helped me and the random act of kindness that he gave to me in my time of need.
Larry Baillie is a social work student of the University of Manitoba.
