In olden days when news traveled by word of mouth or postal service, there was always the chance an account might be inaccurate or exaggerated depending upon the source of the information. Paul Revere might be deemed believable considering the effort he exerted in passing along what he knew. Loopy Aunt Rose from Jersey who hates her son-in-law anyway is probably speculating when she confides he might be trying to poison her.<
I used to write for a newspaper and the first question my editor always asked was, “Did you check your facts?” Never mind that it was a weekly so by the time it hit the stands the news was something removed from fresh. If it was in print it had to be correct. Now newspapers are struggling for their very lives amid the immediacy of televised and electronic coverage. As the horrible memory of 9/11 can attest, we often watch now as the very event unfolds.
Friday I was rushing to be on time for a 9:00 am physical therapy appointment so I hadn’t turned on the TV at all that morning. I arrived to find the PT waiting room packed to standing room only with everyone’s attention riveted to the flat screen television tuned to CNN. Another crane had collapsed in the city, the second one in three months, and this time it was on the Upper East Side. The cable snapped sending construction equipment and debris falling to the street below. They were looking for bodies.
The destroyed penthouse apartment where the crane first hit smoldered in rubble and I was sickened to remember a similar sight two years ago when baseball player Cory Lidle crashed his plane into the side of a building the week I published my first blog entry here. With a rush of panic I realized this particular incident was happening in the Manhattan neighborhood where Daughter teaches school. The crane toppled an hour earlier, just as students and faculty would be arriving. I reached for my cell phone.
There was of course no answer since Daughter would turn off her phone during the school day anyway so I left a controlled message, something like “Please call me when you get this and tell me you’re not under a crane” because I never said I wasn’t crazy. Then I called Husband who I hoped was in front of his computer and asked him to Google the school for their phone number. He gave it to me without even assuring me Daughter was certainly fine because he knew I wouldn’t believe anyone who wasn’t standing right next to her.
I waited a respectable ten minutes for her to see I’d called and call me back and then I rang the school. I told the secretary who I was and then asked if everyone was okay. She said yes, they were all fine and she would let Daughter know I called. Feeling relieved and slightly silly I said not to do that please, I had already left her a voice mail.
Just as I was going in for my appointment my phone rang.
DAUGHTER: Yeah, we’re right around the corner from that mess. The whole area is closed off and we can’t leave the building without a police escort. Everybody’s okay though.
OSV: You got my message?
DAUGHTER: Which one? The one on my phone or the one that came over the school PA system saying, “This is a message for Daughter: Your mom called and I told her you were fine.”
OSV: Oh, God. I’m Amy’s mother, aren’t I?
DAUGHTER: Kind of but don’t worry because everyone’s mother called. It was cute. Thanks, Mom.
Scenes from the Memorial Day Weekend courtesy of Daughter’s Featured Fotos
peace demonstration
cop cruiser field trip
memorial day sky
memorial day sky