4 ms·

I think this article could have been a lot better / more touching had they chosen people who were more relatable. Both Susan and Rick pretty much embodied the s

I think this article could have been a lot better / more touching had they chosen people who were more relatable. Both Susan and Rick pretty much embodied the stereotype of the people close to the towers --- rich and privileged, aloof and out of touch to the Everyman's concerns, etc. Of course, that doesn't change the message of the story, but it does affect how powerfully it will be heard.

ralfd 10y ago
I think the point of the article is not how everyman Rick Rescorla was, but how _exceptional_ he was. Because of him almost all employees of Morgan Stanley survived and he died a selfless heroes death in the tower.
- johnfjacobi 10y ago
  I agree with you, and I may be missing the point. I just know that a lot of the people who are callous about 9/11 are that way because "it was a bunch of rich people" or something like that. So a person who was more of an Everyman might have been more convincing. Then again, maybe there was no Everyman who conveyed what Rick did as well (and who the reporter had enough information on to write a good story).
Mvandenbergh 10y ago
I think this comment could have been a lot better / less embarrassing had you chosen to read the article. A couple in their early sixties who live somewhere in New Jersey in a house that they didn't even own outright is not wealthy. A month after he died, she had trouble paying the mortgage on the house. That isn't very privileged. She had a job as an administrator at a college which she took to support her children after her marriage didn't work out and she found herself without many job skills. He had a job that he'd like to retire from at the age of 62 but an inadequate retirement fund. You almost literally could not invent a more "everyman" couple in their early sixties.
- johnfjacobi 10y ago
  I did read the article, and I would remind you: > Please don't insinuate that someone hasn't read an article. "Did you even read the article? It mentions that" can be shortened to "The article mentions that." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Let me be clear: I'm not just talking about money here. Rick clearly had money for the vast majority of his life. But even Susan was described as being part of a high socio-economic class: > It was obvious to Hill that Susan was from a higher social class, which made him a little self-conscious. You may have gotten a different impression, but it's not like mine came out of the blue. The article paints them as pretty well off, especially eventually.
  - Mvandenbergh 10y ago
    Fair enough and apologies for saying that I didn't think you read it - I wasn't trolling, I was genuinely surprised by that reading. I don't think it is clear that Rick had money for the majority of his life, he looks like someone who grew up in modest circumstances (his mother was housekeeper!), enlisted at the age of 16, ended up eventually joining the US army, was eventually selected for OCS, and then used military benefits to go the University of Oklahoma to study literature and law. He taught for a while, then moved to do corporate security in his 40s. That sounds to me like a relatively clever working class boy who eventually worked his way up to a pretty good professional job. Susan is obviously from a higher social class - note in the article, the contrast is between Rick's friend and her, not between Rick and his friend - but by the time of the article she is essentially working a non-career track pink collar job. That's not unusual for an upper middle class divorced woman of her generation of course but it's a big economic step down from her previous life.
nl 10y ago
In October, Susan’s mortgage payment came due. Though her husband had earned a good salary at Morgan Stanley, he wasn’t paid like an investment banker, and, after alimony and child support, they weren’t wealthy. Their town house was attractive but hardly ostentatious; the mortgage and maintenance payments combined would barely rent a studio apartment in a Manhattan high-rise. Susan had to draw on a home-equity line of credit they’d opened to help pay for Rick’s memorial at the raptor preserve.... Susan felt that she was all but reduced to begging for money. She appealed to the United Way of Morristown, which did come to her assistance. And the National Red Cross eventually sent a check. Lazy assumptions are lazy.

ralfd 10y ago

I think the point of the article is not how everyman Rick Rescorla was, but how _exceptional_ he was. Because of him almost all employees of Morgan Stanley survived and he died a selfless heroes death in the tower.

johnfjacobi 10y ago
I agree with you, and I may be missing the point. I just know that a lot of the people who are callous about 9/11 are that way because "it was a bunch of rich people" or something like that. So a person who was more of an Everyman might have been more convincing. Then again, maybe there was no Everyman who conveyed what Rick did as well (and who the reporter had enough information on to write a good story).

Mvandenbergh 10y ago

I think this comment could have been a lot better / less embarrassing had you chosen to read the article. A couple in their early sixties who live somewhere in New Jersey in a house that they didn't even own outright is not wealthy. A month after he died, she had trouble paying the mortgage on the house. That isn't very privileged. She had a job as an administrator at a college which she took to support her children after her marriage didn't work out and she found herself without many job skills. He had a job that he'd like to retire from at the age of 62 but an inadequate retirement fund. You almost literally could not invent a more "everyman" couple in their early sixties.

johnfjacobi 10y ago
I did read the article, and I would remind you: > Please don't insinuate that someone hasn't read an article. "Did you even read the article? It mentions that" can be shortened to "The article mentions that." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Let me be clear: I'm not just talking about money here. Rick clearly had money for the vast majority of his life. But even Susan was described as being part of a high socio-economic class: > It was obvious to Hill that Susan was from a higher social class, which made him a little self-conscious. You may have gotten a different impression, but it's not like mine came out of the blue. The article paints them as pretty well off, especially eventually.
- Mvandenbergh 10y ago
  Fair enough and apologies for saying that I didn't think you read it - I wasn't trolling, I was genuinely surprised by that reading. I don't think it is clear that Rick had money for the majority of his life, he looks like someone who grew up in modest circumstances (his mother was housekeeper!), enlisted at the age of 16, ended up eventually joining the US army, was eventually selected for OCS, and then used military benefits to go the University of Oklahoma to study literature and law. He taught for a while, then moved to do corporate security in his 40s. That sounds to me like a relatively clever working class boy who eventually worked his way up to a pretty good professional job. Susan is obviously from a higher social class - note in the article, the contrast is between Rick's friend and her, not between Rick and his friend - but by the time of the article she is essentially working a non-career track pink collar job. That's not unusual for an upper middle class divorced woman of her generation of course but it's a big economic step down from her previous life.

nl 10y ago

In October, Susan’s mortgage payment came due. Though her husband had earned a good salary at Morgan Stanley, he wasn’t paid like an investment banker, and, after alimony and child support, they weren’t wealthy. Their town house was attractive but hardly ostentatious; the mortgage and maintenance payments combined would barely rent a studio apartment in a Manhattan high-rise. Susan had to draw on a home-equity line of credit they’d opened to help pay for Rick’s memorial at the raptor preserve.... Susan felt that she was all but reduced to begging for money. She appealed to the United Way of Morristown, which did come to her assistance. And the National Red Cross eventually sent a check. Lazy assumptions are lazy.