Desultory Thoughts

Most people aren’t morning people- especially when they know they have to go to jobs they don’t like.  Angelo Amaranto was not one of those people.  He woke enthusiastically every morning at three o’clock to catch the subway from Borough Park to his job at 2 World Trade Center.

Angelo’s janitor job was hard work, but he loved it. He was employed by Ebasco and worked on the 87th, 89th and 91st floors of the tower. He had worked at 2 World Trade Center since the towers opened in 1973, and he knew that building well.  His wife, Maria, says he would regularly go into work one or two hours early every day.  Sometimes he would even work the weekends.

Originally from Salerno, Italy, A young Angelo Amaranto fell in love with New York when he arrived in Brooklyn with his young Bride.  He got a janitorial job at the Nasdaq, where he worked until he took the World Trade Center job.  “He told me the pay was better and if they took him, he would have to work nights for a little while,” his wife, Maria, told Newsay. “He said it was worth it because it was a better building. He switched to days after two years or so. He loved those buildings.”

Angelo took great pride in providing for his family.  He had worked hard and honest his entire life.  But it wasn’t about the money.  “He used to say to us, ‘You know, a lot of people have money,’” his daughter, Emily recalls. “‘I have something better than money. I have grandchildren.”

It is my honor to pay tribute to Angelo Amaranto today.

You can read messages left by family and friends here.

Officially, Tony Coladonato is not part of my 2996 Project assignment, but I would like to take this occasion to post my thoughts on him as well. 

For me, four or five days ran together as one. Life had stopped in time. Cable news stations ran constant without commercials. The ins and outs of every day American life were shrouded in a dark cloud of confusion and anger. Nobody knew how to feel. People still went to work, still shopped for groceries. But everybody was quiet.

What exactly had happened and who was to blame? A busy day at work had shielded me from most of the initial reporting of planes crashing and towers falling. I had no concept of the magnitude of what had happened. Too consumed with wrapping my brain around the physical events of that morning, I hadn’t thought about the human aspect of the whole thing. It wasn’t until I got home that night and began watching the coverage that my heart was broken.

I remember the moment. I was watching the Fox News Channel, which was interviewing people who had lost family members. They held up pictures that they showed the world, begging for some kind of help in finding their loved ones. At the time, the human toll of the attacks was still up in the air. As far as Sal Coladonato knew, his brother Tony was simply missing.

It was Sal and another brother, I think. The despair in their voices was overwhelming. As she interviewed the brothers, anchor Linda Vester struggled to keep her composure. As the men spoke of their brother, her eyes welled up with tears. Her emotional threshold was reached. So was mine.

Sal Coladonato held a picture of his brother Tony, which, along with his name, was burned eternally into my mind and heart. Tony became my emotional tie to 9/11 and the focal point of my experience. Suddenly the how’s and why’s didn’t matter so much anymore. It was the people. It was Tony. a regular guy, an employee for Cantor Fitzgerald. I prayed then. Right there in front of the TV. Maybe even out loud. I prayed for Tony, but I also prayed for his family. I couldn’t fathom how I would have felt in their shoes.

I wanted so badly to help. To somehow get to New York and help in the search. But I could do nothing. The only thing I could do was watch the coverage, and pray. Time went on. Cable news stations started taking commercial breaks again. Life continued, but I was different. We all were. My heart was touched by the victims and heroes of that day. Despair eventually evolved into love and hope. I tried several times to contact the family of Tony Coladonato with no success. I posted comments on a few tribute websites that I can no longer find, but which I hope his family has read.

Though they never knew it, Tony and his family taught me priceless things and have helped change my life for the better. The websites refer to him formally by his full name- Anthony Joseph Coladonato. I will always remember him as Tony.

As part of the 2996 Project, Kate has a full tribute to Tony.