I worked with the 300 workers who worked on top of the World Trade center. This is dedicated to any who may have perished.
A Memory for the Workers of Windows on the World
For the year I worked as the representative for the 300 people who cut lettuce, baked tarts, broiled salmon, mixed drinks, washed dishes, waited tables and set up banquets on the top two floors of the World Trade Center they were my comrades and friends in a struggle to make this a better world for all.
The workers at Windows on the World came from Bangladesh, Syria, Iran, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Mexico, Cuba, Algeria, Ivory Coast… these are just a few of the countries that I can remember. I imagine that many of them were at work at 9AM this morning. I used to visit the night shift as they left and the day shift as they arrived between 7 and 8.
This group of people taught me what it means to listen, to care and to struggle. I will not forget the day a dishwasher named Robert Williams hugged me with watery eyes and shouted, “we did it” after 120 of his coworkers defended his job and stopped the abuse of a mean spirited supervisor.
To my sisters and brothers at Windows thank you for teaching me much about myself, about struggle and about the world we live in.