Vinnie: 00:00:04

This is Vinnie

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Oh, hi.

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I have a guest today.

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Um, where were you on September 11th?

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That was yesterday, but it wasn't.

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Yeah, it was yesterday,

but 25-year yesterdays

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Um

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Everyone has been impacted

by it, some degree of it.

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And it's kind of ironic that we're

mentioning it yesterday that there are

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about 100 million people that weren't

even born yet in this country who

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have no clue, have no vision of it.

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You know, they see it on TV, but

it doesn't have the, the impact

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it had, that it had for those of

us that were a little b- up in

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years that actually got to see it.

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Uh, growing up in New York, I

remember the big thing was going

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to the, uh, Empire State Building.

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That was the big thing

as a kid growing up.

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And then the World Trade Center

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Been to New York many a time.

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Seen it.

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Been in it once back in, gosh,

early two thou-- Oh, geez, '90s.

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My brother and I were

up there with my nephew.

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Uh

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I'm just thinking back on that

day when I woke up, turned the

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TV on, grabbed a cup of coffee.

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I was living in Clearwater, and

for some reason, I, I was up

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earlier than normal and just had

the TV on in the background and

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It, then the prompt came up, "The

World Trade Center has been hit."

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You kind of go, "Huh?

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What?"

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You know, and then they came back and at

first it was suspicion that it was maybe a

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little, uh, private aircraft that hit it.

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And then after that, it was pretty

much apparent that it was not a little

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plane, but a bigger plane deliberately.

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And, and it was interesting 'cause

the president was in Sarasota at a

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elementary school at the time of the, uh

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attack.

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And I can remember watching him on

TV 'cause they cut to him, and one

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of his, uh, aides, you know, went

over his shoulder and basically came

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on and said, "We've been attacked."

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And he kept his composure,

didn't frighten the kids.

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He was reading to them.

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They were reading to him.

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Finished the session with the

children, and then got up and

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left and did a press briefing.

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That was in all, all in a matter

of just moments that morning.

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I mean, no one knew what was going on

until he came on and made his comments,

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and immediately they flew him out of

Sarasota to get him away from anywhere.

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And pretty much the rest of

the day was just basic shock

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of, "How did this happen?"

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You know, and years later, I was

living in, uh, Sarasota, and I was

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down in Venice one time, and one of my

students in one of my classes, my real

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estate classes said, "Yeah, I taught

one of those guys how to fly a plane."

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He was an instructor in Venice, and

there was two of my guests that were in

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Venice getting their pilot's license.

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And he said that he just, he felt

something was squirrely about him.

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This was years later, after the

9/11 had originally hit, and I was

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living in Sarasota years later.

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And he goes, "Yeah, we just kinda

had a funny feeling about it."

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And I go, "Wow, that's,

that's close to home."

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Uh, I think about all these kids that have

been born in the last 25 years who see

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it on TV and they really don't realize.

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It's just like us, you know, older,

you know, we weren't impacted by

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the Civil War, the World War I.

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World War II, our families,

you know, were part of it.

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My parents and others, you

know, were part of that.

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And that just, uh, the

calamity of, of death.

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All those people who, uh, were

in the Trade Center that day

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got up, go to work, kissed their

families goodbye and see you later.

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Well, there was no later for a lot of them

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I don't know how else I can

express it except it was just one

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of those days in history that,

you know, no one will forget.

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I hope no one forgets.

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I mean, 100 years from now, uh,

you know, it's, it's history.

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I just hope we don't

ever see it repeat again.

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Uh, that's just a little bit

I have to share about it.

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I have someone else here with me that,

uh, she would like to, uh, maybe make

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some comments about her day, her feelings.

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Marie?

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Marie: Thanks, Ben.

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So you asked me where I

was on September 11th.

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Vinnie: Mm-hmm.

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Marie: And I told you I was in Columbia,

South Carolina, and I was working at an

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apartment building, and I was at work.

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And I really didn't think much

as far as like it clicking in

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that anyone that I knew could be

affected by what was going on.

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But then I heard from one of my siblings

that my mom was supposed to be at the base

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of the World Trade Center that day, going

to the farmer's market to pick up a plant

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for her boss because it was his birthday,

and she didn't work too far from there.

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And so, of course, then

your head starts spinning.

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Vinnie: Mm-hmm.

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Marie: And I'm so far away

and absolutely powerless

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And, you know, just devastated at the

thought of possibly losing my mom.

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Because once those towers fell, you

knew that nothing around it, and

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surely nothing underneath it, like

the trains, the subway trains that run

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underneath there, um, could actually--

no one could actually survive that.

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And so we waited, and then we

talked to each other, my siblings

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and I, and we thought, "Well, maybe

she got a hotel room somewhere.

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Maybe she got away.

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It might be a day or two," 'cause

all the communications were down,

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"but hopefully we'll hear from her."

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And eventually we heard from her

later in the day and, um, I don't

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know, maybe it might've been six

hours, might've been eight hours,

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but, you know, she fortunately…

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She's very, um,

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what's the word?

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She's a woman of solutions and ingenuity

and, you know, she did take the train

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down to Manhattan, but she couldn't

get all the way down to the World Trade

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Center because the first tower had

already been hit and the trains weren't

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running that far down into the city.

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And, um, so she had, uh, taken the

train down and was fortunate enough

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to be the last person on a bus over

a bridge to get back from New York

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City to Queens, where she lived.

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And so we were one of the fortunate

ones in that she survived and, um,

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she did see some of what happened,

which, you know, you'll hear about.

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But, um, you know, fortunately she

had a friend that normally your friend

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keeping you on the phone, keeping

you late for work is not a good thing

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'cause you're gonna be late for work.

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But, you know, fortunately that

saved her life, and 25 years later,

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thank God we still have her with us

to love and to make memories with

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Vinnie: Yeah.

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Yep

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Had the honor of meeting her a

couple of times and wonderful lady

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Marie: Yeah, she's definitely

an interesting character and,

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you know, her, her-- I don't

know what the word is, moxie?

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I don't know.

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Vinnie: Mm-hmm.

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Marie: Just the way that she goes

through life is not emotional.

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You know, I'm getting emotional

talking about it, but she's not.

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She's just like, "Well, I just had

to power through it," you know.

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"I just had to keep on going," you know.

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That's just who she is.

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Vinnie: She sounds familiar.

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Marie: And she has, um, a lot of life

experiences that have been like that.

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There are some that have, you know,

gotten her down, but, you know, not

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much, not for long, and she's not one to

ruminate over it and lament her situation.

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She's a strong, brave, incredible woman.

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Uh, my kids joke around and

call her the Highlander.

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And, um, she's overcome a lot.

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Mm-hmm.

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And she's 91, and she hasn't slowed down.

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She hasn't stopped.

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You know, maybe slowed down a little

bit because life slowed her down.

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But, you know, mentally, I

mean, she just looks amazing.

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She looks like she's aging

in reverse, thank God.

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She's thriving and, you know, she--

the most important thing is that

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she's still here with us, and she's

still able to make memories with us.

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And, you know, I moved to Florida last

year to be closer to her so that we

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could have as much of that as possible

before her time is over on this earth.

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And this is really important every year.

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I thank the lady that kept

her on the phone, and I wish

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my mom a happy anniversary.

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Vinnie: Yeah

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There are lots and lots of stories of

people just like that, that a circumstance

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happened and they were fortunate not to

be right in the middle of it, but there

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and were able to tell their stories

'cause there are a lot of families,

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over 3,000 of them, that didn't get

an opportunity to, to say goodbye or

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Heal wounds.

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Wow.

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Marie: And the thing is that, you

know, I'm-- I was born in and grew

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up in New York, took many friends

on tours of the World Trade Center.

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And I know that the world

knows what happened.

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You know, they know that the Twin Towers

were attacked and fell, but I really

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do feel like unless you've actually

been to those buildings before, the

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center of business for the world at

the time, you don't understand the

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enormity of what was lost because

those buildings were humongous.

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And, you know, just looking at them, you

know, they're just so big, and it's hard

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to describe for anyone who hasn't seen it.

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But I just really feel like if you

hadn't ever been in it or seen it or

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walked by it, you know, walked by them,

you wouldn't understand the enormity

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of what was lost that day, aside

from lives, aside from businesses.

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You know, you just think to

yourself, "How could anything

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possibly take those buildings down?"

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But they did, and it was really sad.

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It was a very sad time.

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Sad time for the world, sad time

for the victims, and, you know,

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definitely a stressful time

for the almost victims and- Mm.

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… a time of gratitude for them

not becoming victims as well.

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Vinnie: Well, we're hearing a lot

about people who worked on the pile.

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Now it is 25 years later who, when

they w- when they all jumped in

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there, they didn't know the toxins.

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And, and you see a lot of them

now that are becoming ill because

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of some of that, 'cause it took a

few years for it to, to transpire.

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And, uh, that's, that's the other

collateral damage of people who

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went in to help, and they didn't,

they didn't conceive that they

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were gonna have problems after.

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They just went in and did what

they knew how to do is save people.

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Fire demen- fire department, the police,

all those people just, you know, gave

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their all to, to, to find people and

not giving up until the last moment.

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Marie: Mm-hmm.

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Yeah, didn't hesitate.

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And then the people that lived in the

immediate area breathing in that air-

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Vinnie: Oh, yeah

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Marie: as well.

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Vinnie: Yeah.

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Yeah.

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You could see it.

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I mean, it, it, it…

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Some of the videos or some of the

live stuff they saw, it, it just

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this white dust, and it was all of

the, you know, the chemicals and the

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solution, all the stuff that those

buildings were built by, just totally…

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I, I've been in real estate a lot of

years, and I've seen construction, and

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I just cannot see or I cannot comprehend

how that building melted to some points.

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I mean, it-

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Marie: Well, and then of

course you have the, the fuel-

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Vinnie: Yeah

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… Marie: also from the airplanes.

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Vinnie: Yeah, yeah,

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Marie: yeah.

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Fuselage.

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Vinnie: Yeah.

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Yeah, and the stories you

hear about the ones that were

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able to get out and be saved.

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There was one on- online,

a gentleman who was blind.

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His dog guided him out of the building.

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Marie: Mm.

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Vinnie: Uh, you know, there

were people who just were in the

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right place at the right time.

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And I should say, those other people

that were there were there at the right

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time for themselves and the people that

were around them to give them comfort.

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I mean, you watch the videos of that

day, people jumping out of windows.

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I mean, it's a toss-up.

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Do I die jumping or do I die here?

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I mean, I don't know.

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Marie: I think the thing that's

most haunting for me is just hearing

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those thuds of the people who jumped.

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Yes.

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Vinnie: Yes.

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Marie: The sound of their

bodies hitting the roofs.

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Vinnie: Yes.

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: 00:13:38

Yeah.

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Marie: And they replayed that

over and over again on the news-

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Yeah … and over the years.

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Yeah.

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And that to me is- Yeah … you know,

the most, um, horrifying in my memory.

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Vinnie: Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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' Marie: Cause it's exactly what you said.

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Do I let myself die here or

do I take a chance and jump

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and hope that I'll survive?

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But-

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Vinnie: Yeah

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… Marie: obviously they didn't and, you

know, they chose to go their own way.

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Vinnie: Yeah.

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: 00:14:05

And the ones that ran in, the firefighters

and the policemen, and there was a, a

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Jesuit priest that ran in there to…

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He was one of the first that was killed.

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He ran into, into the, in there

to try to save people and didn't

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even think about his own life and-

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Marie: I'm sure a lot of people did … a

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Vinnie: lot of people did that, yeah.

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Yeah, you've heard of that over the time.

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Yeah.

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: 00:14:25

Okay.

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: 00:14:25

Well, that was tough.

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Marie: We'll have other stories with

more levity in the future going forward-

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Vinnie: Yeah

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Marie: I'm

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Vinnie: sure.

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I mean, you know, there, there are

things in history that, you know,

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you, you see it and you go, "My gosh."

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Uh, I can remember when

President Kennedy got shot.

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Marie: When Princess Diana died.

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Vinnie: Diana got shot, you know, when-

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Marie: Not, not got shot, chief.

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Vinnie: I mean, not shot, but, you know.

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: 00:14:49

Marie: When Princess Diana-

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Vinnie: Yeah

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: 00:14:50

… Marie: those are the questions

over time in our generation

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Vinnie: that people ask.

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: 00:14:52

Yeah, Martin,

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: 00:14:52

Marie: Martin,

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: 00:14:52

Vinnie: yeah, Martin Luther King,

you know, and, and- Where were

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Marie: you?

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: 00:14:55

Vinnie: Yeah, where were you

when these things happened?

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Yeah.

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: 00:14:56

You know, uh, I, I can think back of

all these instances over the years

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as, as you grow up and you go, "Wow."

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Marie: Yeah.

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: 00:15:04

Vinnie: Well, I don't wanna leave

it totally, uh, on a cliff note,

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but, you know, there are other

things that we're gonna talk about.

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: 00:15:14

Um, if you had any family,

friends, or relatives that were

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involved that passed, I'm sorry.

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I'm, I'm sorry for your loss.

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It's not easy for your families.

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And for all those who were on the

pile helping all those days and now

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are feeling the repercussions 25

years later, think about all them.

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They all, you know, they

gave their lives too.

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They jumped into something that had

no clue what they were gonna find

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: 00:15:42

Okay.

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Well, this is Vinnie

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Go ahead

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: 00:15:47

Marie: Anne Marie

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Vinnie: Anne Marie.

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Uh, thank you for listening