When I click "Save", it will be exactly seven years to the minute
that the first aircraft hit the World Trade Center in New York. The
events of what is now referred to as 9/11 are only too well
known.
My thoughts are with all victims, whether identified
afterwards, or not. In New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
My thoughts are with the passengers and crew on the four
flights destroyed. My thoughts
are with the victims killed in the World Trade Center. My thoughts
are with those emergency workers
who lost their lives trying to save others'.
My
thoughts today are with the families of those who perpetrated these
atrocities, for they lost too. Even before the events of September
2001, they lost their loved ones to a delusion of hate that is not of
the religion they claimed to be faithful to. Hatred leads to
destruction - as shown seven years ago. Forgiveness is a pillar of
Christian faith, as it is one of the Islamic faith. Whether those that
lost a loved one in 9/11 can find it in themselves to forgive is beyond
my scope.
But first and foremost, my
thoughts are with Norberto Hernandez, whose tribute I filed on this
blog a year ago. Project 2996 urged us to add new material when
reposting a tribute. I found this impossible. The searches for Norberto
on Google are contaminated with references to the Falling Man, who was
in fact another victim, Jonathan Briley. This confusion has led to much
anger and anguish, something the families of both men could do well
without.
Norberto, rest in peace.
This entry, as stated above is dedicated to the
memory of
Norberto was a pastry chef from
Elmhurst, working in the restaurant
Windows on the World on the 106th and 107th floor of the
North Tower of the World Trade Center in New
York. After the attacks, he was reported missing for a
week until
parts of a torso and an arm were found in a collapsed stairwell. DNA
testing and finger printing reveiled that these were the remains of
Norberto. It also invalidated claims that the image of the Falling Man
was that of Norberto; this was another victim of 9/11 who will be the
subject of a different
tribute.
At the
time of the attacks on the WTC, Norberto was aged 42 and had been
married for 25 years. He was the fourth of ten children by his parents’
marriage, and also had six half-siblings through his father. His
parents separated when he was young. Norberto himself had three
daughters, three grandchildren and 37 nephews. He was a man of Puerto
Rican origins, and had hoped to spend his final days there. Instead,
after 9/11, a funeral service was held and his remains cremated in
Puerto
Rico.
His
sister Luz described Norberto. “He was quiet, kind”, she said. “He was
a handsome man. Everybody loved him, you know. Everybody.” Norberto’s
nickname was Bible, as he was very dependable. Together Forever was his motto.
Norberto
started work in Windows on the World at the age of 17, washing dishes.
He was interested in cooking, so a manager paid for his tuition at
cooking school. Norberto became pastry chef and worked up to 10 hours a
day. His sister Luz said that he made cakes, desserts, cookies and
bread. His cakes were fabulous.
Outside
work, Norberto loved sports, and was a fan of a Puerto Rican boxer,
Felix Trinidad Jr. Four days before the attacks, he rang his mother and
asked her to play “I would cry but I have no more tears” four times.
In the
immediate aftermath of the plane striking the North Tower, Norberto called his sister
Luz. “He said: ‘Yeah, don’t worry, I’m OK”.They were disconnected, and
when Luz tried to call back she could not get through. Other accounts
from Windows on the World tell that smoke and dust filled the
restaurant after the strike, and that people lay on the floor to escape
the worst of it. Air was beginning to run out at the time of thelast
contact.
These are
the facts that I have managed to pull together from the Internet.
From the
little that I have learned of Norberto, he came through as a gentle
giant. Although 6’2” (1.84m) tall, he was always listening, and talked
later. His family suffered a double loss, as Claribel Hernandez (his
sister-in-law), a
secretary working elsewhere in the
North Tower, was also killed in the attacks. Norberto was close
in the
family and responsible, which earned him the nickname Bible. He loved
his work, and by the look of one of the images, loved to impart that
knowledge to others around him.
September
11th, 2001, dawned as a brilliantly sunny morning in
New
York.
Two planes were flown into the two towers of the World Trade Center, leading to their collapse
within 2 hours. The destruction of so many lives was brought about by
mindless hatred and madness, fuelled by religious zealotry which was
not based on any writing in any scriptures in any religion.
Norberto
may have heard of that on news reports, but it was probably quite far
from him. He was a man that lived for his family, always there for
them. A diligent worker, putting in up to 10 hours a day, loving his
creations from the oven. Travelling to the WTC on the Subway every
morning, his thoughts were probably far from what was to happen not
that much later on that fateful Tuesday.
Two
thousand nine hundred and ninety-six are known to have died that day,
or in its immediate aftermath. Norberto’s ashes were scattered in his
homeland of Puerto Rico. His memory lives on in his family, and
in the memory of
those that read this. He is deeply missed by those close to him.
To
Norberto Hernandez
Rest In
Peace
Links
http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/studentwork/terror/sep19/three_lives.asp
I have
attempted to contact the University of Columbia to use the material in this
link, but have not received a reply. As it is central to thetribute, I
have used it, and acknowledge the writer, Sarah Clemence.
http://www.poetrykit.org/pkl/tw6/tw4conte.htm
This is a
poem by Barbara Phillips, from which I have used some factual
references to Norberto. It refers to him being the Falling Man though.
http://www.unitedinmemory.net/gallery.php
I have
been granted permission by UIM to reproduce the commemorative quilt for
Norberto. 
http://www.queenspress.com/archives/coverstories/2001/issue38/coverstory.htm
The
poster, pictured above, proclaiming Norberto as missing after the
attacks, hung on a walkway of Manhattan for more than a
week
http://www.dcroe.com/2996/?page_id=2
2,996
persons.
J-land
remembers 9/11
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