My mission to find Ebenezer Elliott's stone took me past this seemingly unremarkable bench high above The Rivelin Valley. Except - it wasn't unremarkable at all.
It is a memorial bench, sited here in memory of Sheffield man Nigel Bruce Thompson. He was thirty three years old when he died.
He was cruelly murdered by Islamic terrorists on the morning of September 11th, 2001. He worked for finance brokers Cantor Fitzgerald in New York City. This company occupied four floors of The World Trade Center's North Tower. It lost 658 of its employees that fateful morning.
9/11 was not just an attack on America. It was an attack on civilisation itself. The pain of what happened rippled around the world, touching the lives of so many including the Thompson family in Sheffield.
And what did those cowardly attacks achieve? What did the wicked terrorists hope they might achieve? Looking back, it all seems even more pointless than it did at the time. Nigel Bruce Thompson would have been 54 years old this year.
So sad, and what did the attack and so many deaths achieve? Just fear and more hatred in the world. I don't think Allah would be pleased.
ReplyDeleteIf he existed he would be ashamed of the evil perpetrated in his holy name.
DeleteNice way to tell us about Nigel. We tend to forget about the individuals who lost their lives in that disaster.
ReplyDelete3000 painful stories
DeleteMore deaths, more bloodshed, more ophaned children. The human race has a lot to answer for.
ReplyDeleteWe should be together my friends.
DeleteWe can be together. - Jefferson Airplane
The daughter of a man who was a few years behind me in school also perished in that atrocity.
ReplyDeleteSo many connections Mr C. So many tears. So many mouths forming the word, "Why?"
DeleteA bench is a wonderful way to remember someone.
DeleteWhat more can you do?
DeleteI still remember hearing about that on the TV and crying all that day. The WHY? still stands, unanswered.
ReplyDeleteAnd the wicked terrorists threw away their own lives too. That also did not make sense. You only get one life and you should cherish it as best you can.
DeleteThe bench looks a little neglected but it might be that so many people have sat there to reflect on the untimely passing of a young man, and to contemplate man's pointless inhumanity to his fellow man.
ReplyDeleteTwenty years after the bench was installed in that exposed place it definitely needs another coat of varnish.
DeleteHis shy, sideways smile... he was someone's little boy. When 9/11 occurred, I was sitting at home sipping tea, happy to have begun my maternity leave. I was only days away from giving birth to my own baby boy. It was a horrific day.
ReplyDeleteMay we assume that your baby boy will be 21 years old in September Melinda? I hope you still love him as much now as you did when he arrived in 2001.
DeleteWe have a memorial in our city to Navy Cmdr. Dan Shanower who died at the Pentagon during those attacks. The memorial's sculpture combines a steel beam from the World Trade Center, granite from Pennsylvania where Flight 93 crashed, and rubble from the damaged part of the pentagon. There is an eternal flame and face sculptures done by local children. It is a moving memorial on the river in our downtown. He was only 40 when he died.
ReplyDeleteIn his life, Dan said, "Freedom isn't free". So very true. I just googled an image of his memorial in Naperville.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, many people from all over the world died in those attacks. This guy would have been almost exactly my age. So pointless.
ReplyDeleteI've blogged before about a neighbor of mine who died in the attacks. He was 26 at the time, and would be 47 this year. Hard to believe it was so long ago.
It seems like yesterday. I think we can all remember exactly where we were when we heard the terrible news.
DeleteThat horrible attack changed many things and still reflects on our lives today, even if we personally have not lost a loved one in it.
ReplyDeleteA bench in a spot where someone loved to be is a beautiful way to remember them.
Like old gravestones, it seems we cannot maintain such benches forever.
Delete