The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland
By: Jim DeFede / Narrated By: Ray Porter
Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins
The days the world was at its best
I remember watching a PBS special on how towns took in passengers from grounded flights on Sept. 11th, 2001, and they sheltered them, cared for them, met each and every individual with warmth and affection. Naturally, watching that show, I wept like a baby. At the time I thought I was so emotional because the first anniversary was about to happen, and I assumed I was just overwrought.
Uhm, turns out? No. Wellll, sure I was DEFinitely overwrought at the time, all raw and sensitive, but ‘twould appear that the stories are touching no matter when you listen to them. Cuz I was listening to The Day the World Came to Town, and danged if I didn’t feel SEVERAL lumps forming in my danged throat.
This is a truly wonderful Listen! It just shows how towns with sooo few inhabitants saw what went on in New York/the Pentagon/the field in Pennsylvania, and they wanted so desperately to do something. They took in people from the planes, and they had a veritable international smorgasbord of guests whom they helped like there was no tomorrow. They greeted each passenger with warmth; they greeted them with places to stay (Some even took people into their personal homes); they took their extra linens, their extra toothbrushes to schools/churches/meeting halls that were set up as shelters. Pharmacists looked up prescriptions so people could have their much-needed medicine. They did it all.
And my personal favorite? A veterinarian and two women took care of ALL the animals who were stashed in cargo holds, filling prescriptions there as needed also, and showing loving kindness to the creatures that frazzled passengers, grieving over what was happening in the world, held so dear. Not a single animal died, and several pets were total hits with workers.
I liked the many, MANY stories of developing relationships amongst passengers and the townsfolk; I liked the side stories such as the Rabbi who discovered that there was a reason, a very spiritual reason, he was sent to Gander—he found a sense of purpose in it. And then there was the big wig from Hugo Boss who was so touched by the sense of community that was being built that, even tho’ he could’ve had a private jet fly him out, he chose to stay with his fellow passengers and see the adventure to the end.
Ray Porter brings warmth and a wry sense of humor to the narration of this audiobook. Tho’ I did keep expecting him to start talking about the song, “Mary, Did You Know?” as to me, he’s sooooo memorable from his work in the Christmas audiobook, Tinsel, I was able to smack myself upside the head and just listen to his performance here. I have plenty of Porter’s works in my Library, MUCH of it fiction, but I gotta tell ya: Ray Porter does nonfiction like nobody’s business. There was a lot of sweetness in the book, a lot of really cool kindness, and Porter brought it all to life, narrating as tho’ he’d read the text several times and was familiar with exactly where to place emphasis, where to place emotion, where to add the extra beat or two that a funny line deserved.
If you’re looking for a story about humanity at its very best, give this book a try!
I remember, back in 2001, when somebody wrote in the newspaper that “things were getting back to normal because a cabbie just flipped me off in traffic,” and I’ll tell you what I felt back then, what I feel now:
Oh how I MISS the days when we were so kind and tender with each other! This audiobook brings that kinder time, those more precious memories, right up to the front of your mind. And oh thank gosh for that!
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