While solemnity ruled yesterday’s events at Ground Zero, Frank Begley of SoHo took a more proactive approach.
Begley, who lost his brother on 9/11, came to the ceremony wearing a T-shirt bearing the American flag on front, and the handwritten message, “Kill Al Qaeda,” on the back.
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Jared Kotz, 47, of the East Village sat by St. Paul’s Church yesterday, pondering the second anniversary of the luckiest day of his life.
Kotz was headed to work at the towers when he saw an injured bird that reminded him of his mom, a bird lover who had died six months earlier. Once at work, he couldn’t concentrate and made an excuse to leave.
He went back, found the bird and brought it to St. Paul’s, he recalled. Ten minutes later, the first tower was hit and his 15 co-workers died.
“It’s two years later and I’m still caught in that moment,” Kotz said. “I just felt compelled to help that bird. An act of kindness saved my life.”
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For Tony Milne, once the manager of Windows on the World, 9/11 now seems long ago and far away.
Milne moved to Australia after the attacks and yesterday was one of hundreds of expatriate Americans and volunteers who planted 3,000 trees in a Sydney park in remembrance of the dead.
“It’s painful, but it’s pain you have to lock away and get on with your life,” he said.
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Doomsday prophets hung around St. Paul’s Church, shouting into the thick crowd of mourners.
“I believe the winds of the end of time are blowing,” said Jacob Can, a Messianic Jew who held up his worn copy of the Bible, open to Matthew 24.
He begged people to repent and receive Jesus before it’s too late.