Ground Zero Quotes

“The frightening assaults of pandemic terror have vastly increased our vulnerability. At the outset, hope and humor were able to alleviate the sabotage of our living together, until bit by bit, the raging roars and the thundering crashes of the death toll called the shots. The ground zero of our mental structure must inevitably make us remold another thinking pattern. ("What do they think behind their dirty aprons?" )”
― Erik Pevernagie

“Flying starts from the ground. The more grounded you are, the higher you fly.”
― J.R. Rim

“To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.”
― Martin Luther King Jr

“Look at us. We build giant highways and murderously fast cars for killing each other and committing suicide. Instead of bomb shelters we construct gigantic frail glass buildings all over Manhattan at Ground Zero, a thousand feet high, open to the sky, life a woman undressing before an intruder and provoking him to rape her. We ring Russia's borders with missile-launching pads, and then scream that she's threatening us. In all history there's never been a more lurid mass example of the sadist-masochist expression of the thanatos instinct than the present conduct of the United States. The Nazis by comparison were Eagle Scouts.”
― Herman Wouk, Don't Stop the Carnival

“In their quest to hit cloud Nine, our young men and women in
their prime are gradually finding themselves on ground Zero,
emotionally battered, academically bankrupt and medically
paralyzed.”
― Oche Otorkpa, The Unseen Terrorist

“The strange thing was how quiet everything became just in that moment. Everything. All of existence, covered in a thick, still blanket of complete silence. The screeching tires and the yelling all paused. And then it happened: the white flash. It was blinding, taking away all definition of earth and sky, leaving nothing visible but the awful purity of the white. I remember that I flinched instinctively. That was all I really had time to do. Then, as if to announce my passing and that of all three-hundred-and-fourteen other souls working the midnight shift at the plant, came the roar. It was a guttural thunderous growl, like some great evil had just been released into the world. After that…”
― Dennis Sharpe, Saturday Night To Infinity

“Everyone thought the mob was done after RICO.... And they were. Then the Towers came down. Overnight, the feds shifted three-quarters of their personnel into anti-terrorism and the mob made a comeback. Shit, they even made a fortune overcharging for debris removal from Ground Zero.... 9/11 saved the mafia.”
― Don Winslow, The Force

“Ground Zero by Stewart Stafford

At the rim of the abyss,
Among the malignant smoking rubble,
And the plane and body parts,
The traumatised rediscovered their purpose.

In a moonscape of fallen pride, identity, and ambition,
The anonymous saved something of the unsalvageable,
Searchers with sandwiches and coffee in the toxic dust,
Manna from Good Samaritans with unconditional gratitude.

As the lungs struggled to take in air,
The hearts of each participant enlarged,
And found shelter in non-partisan synergy,
Becoming a family of former strangers.

The lesson of the lost was to stay loving and open-hearted,
Not turn away and isolate from life and others,
Even when the scars became unbearable,
Their stolen affection remained a towering beacon from the ruins.

© Stewart Stafford, 2021. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford

“we're probably sitting on Ground Zero, right here at this table, for h-Bomb number !"
table was at 57th Street and 7th Avenue NYC”
― Herman Wouk, Don't Stop the Carnival