Remembering 9/11: Sara Elizabeth Low

Sara Elizabeth Low

(Image from Legacy.com)

I was not personally acquainted with Sara Low, a flight attendant from Batesville, Arkansas who died when American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City at 8:46 on September 11, 2001, but when my brother Tim lived and worked in Batesville, he got to know her and her father, possibly her mother and sister as well, and that's why I try to remember her on anniversaries of 9/11.

I see from checking online that others are also remembering her at this time. A Legacy site reveals that Sara Low's only sister, Alyson Low, remembered her on September 7, 2010 with a poignant quote from Emily Dickinson:

"I would like more sisters, that the taking out of one, might not leave such stillness."

These words are ultimately borrowed from a letter written in 1859. The entire letter, which clarifies for us that Emily Dickinson's beloved sister, Vinnie, had been 'taken' only in the sense that she had been required at the home of a sick aunt, can be found in The Letters of Emily Dickinson. In that same letter, Dickinson goes on to say of her sister:

"Vinnie has been all, so long, I feel the oddest fright at parting with her for an hour, lest a storm arise, and I go unsheltered."

From this letter, one can see that Emily Dickinson not only deeply longed for her sister's presence, but even needed her as well, and could scarcely wait until her sister should eventually return to fill the stillness of her temporary absence.

For those like Alyson Low who lost loved ones on September 11, 2001, however, that stillness will always remain, and if you go to the Legacy site, you can look at the Guest Book Photos posted there that demonstrate just how much she and her sister loved each other.