Nearly 10 Years Later, Shadow of 9-11 Still Lingers

The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 changed many lives in an instant. For others, the transformation took a bit more time.

Ten years later, longtime Fort Greene resident Ruth Goldstein called herself an even more solid "pacifist patriot," changed by the experience of that horrible day in ways that only fairly recently became clear. 

"I don't think it's a contradiction," Goldstein said of her moniker. "A lot of people came out of the experience of 9-11 angry and upset. But for me there is a different way."

But after two bloody wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Goldstein felt like she was part of a growing "silent majority" of Americans who believe that the world's problems can be solved by peaceful means. 

"The powers-that-be are always finding scapegoats, whether it's the Chinese in the 1800s or the Muslims of today," she said.

The weekend after Sept. 11, Goldstein said she organized a memorial service in Fort Greene Park attended by thousands of people—an event that featured, along with other dignitaries, the late Councilman James Davis, who spoke above love, she recalled. 

However, it was only in recently that the full magnitude of the event came into focus. 

"To be absolutely frank, I'm very good when something happens up front. I was only two or three years later before it hit me.

And it's not always straightforward.

My younger daughter was working in Lower Manhattan. And about three years ago she came into town so we could go to a funeral for a family friend together. And we got out of the train in Manhattan and I said to her, 'Doesn't the sky look beautiful?'

And she said, 'Mom, I can't look at the sky that way in the morning. I just go right back to 9-11.'

And she has never been one to talk about it. But I mean I looked up then and I could see, it was that time of the morning...

You get past it and life goes on and it's almost like it never happened in some ways. But in other ways, it stays part of your being."