Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Reaction
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, was something foreign to me until just recently. How could such a big tragedy of our nation's history, not make it into more books and other texts? Before this, I had only heard about the terrorist attacks in New York, but never an incident not involving an outside source. It is a sorrowful yet interesting topic, and it makes me question why it the factory fire is not more commonly known about. My first reaction, was fear. Fright, horror, panic, scare, terror, are all words that can describe this dreadful event, but words do not do justice. I could not imagine being faced to pick my death, whether it being burning alive, or falling 8-10 stories to my death. Most people inside the building did not even get this "luxury", many paralyzed by fear. 30 women died in the elevator alone. Even more died, falling to the pavement. What does one do, in such a hopeless situation? I hope I never have to make a decision half as frightening as such. Secondly, I felt remorse, not only for the dead, but for their families. For thirty minutes or less, these people were put into the worst situation of their entire lives. I feel so sorry for these dead people, many of whom were immigrants or so poor, that they were enslaved to this job. It was not the people that went home early that were killed, but those staying overtime in order to feed their families. In trying to work their hardest they were not rewarded, and that is one of the saddest things of all. I felt remorse for the family members that could not even identify their loved ones by facial features, but by the clothing or jewelry that somehow was not charred by the fire. I felt remorse for the entire city of New York, having to witness such a sad sight, and never being able to erase the painful images of burning, exploding bodies. Lastly, I could not help, but feel anger. Anger that the building was not inspected better, and upset that there was nothing that could be done for those