The Only Thing We Could Think of
By Elizabeth M. Danehy

My singing group, The Sirens, was invited to New York City to sing at an 
awards ceremony for Helen Thomas (the White House correspondent).  Only five 
of us could make it, but it turned out fine.  We were excused from all of 
our classes for the day so we decided to make use of our time off.  After 
the ceremony, we hopped on the subway and headed to Ground Zero.  As soon as 
we stepped onto the sidewalk, the mood was completely different.  It was 
dark, quiet and it smelled strange.

What we saw was devastating.  The buildings were still burning, and the air 
was filled with smoke.  The area was fenced off, but you could see pretty 
much everything.  I have never seen such destruction in my entire life; not 
one person there could look at it without feeling horrified.  There were 
candles, pictures, posters and letters posted all along the fence that 
separated us from the remains.  Hundreds of people stood watching and 
crying.  I have never felt so hopeless.  We decided to do the only thing we 
could think of and that was to sing.  We have been preparing many patriotic 
songs that are beautifully written and well arranged (for a cappella music).

The girls and I stood up against the wall, faced the people, and with the 
remains behind us, we sang for two hours.  People videotaped us, took 
pictures, hugged us, sang with us, and about five people called home and 
held up their cell phones to our music.

At one point, a woman in front of us broke down and started bawling, and all 
of us girls felt her pain and lost it in the middle of the song.  The most 
amazing thing was that the crowd joined in and finished it for us; it was 
absolutely surreal.  CNN showed up and taped our group and the people 
responding to the music.  In our last song, "The Star-Spangled Banner," 
firemen began to fill the streets.  There were about forty of them, and they 
had just walked off Ground Zero from working there all day.  They removed 
their hats and began to cry.  It was so sad; I cannot begin to describe how 
it felt.  At the end they applauded us, and we applauded them.  We walked 
into the streets and hugged them and thanked them.  They were crying and 
tried to explain how horrible it is there, but told us how important it is 
that people support each other.

I will never forget that day as long as I live.