Luis by Cheryl DePaolo
	He had not been an important executive or bond trader.  Luis had worked in a bar in the World Trade Center, and now he was out of work. When the towers had collapsed, Luis began to search for his friend, a fellow Mexican who had worked at Windows on the World, a restaurant high up in one of the Twin Towers.  He joined in the rescue operation. Luis spoke to my friend Helga and I, switching easily from English to Spanish and back. Helga later translated for me the parts of his story that I had not been able to follow with my limited understanding of Spanish. Luis explained that he had been in Mexico City for the big earthquake in 1995, and he had been involved in the rescue operation there.  He remembered saving people from the rubble and he was anxious to do so again. He explained that in Mexico City, people were trapped in crevices when the ground opened up.  The rescue workers would call out "hola" and would listen for a response, then work their way towards the trapped person.  Many lives were saved in this way, and many survived for days until they could be pulled from the wreckage.  One man was found alive after being trapped for over 2 weeks. However, Luis quickly learned that there were grave differences between the two disasters. Although there were heroic rescues in the hours immediately following the collapse of the towers on Tuesday, hopes for many being found alive dimmed quickly. No one answered the calls of the rescuers, although they stopped often to listen. Only remains were found. Luis described finding the body of an FDNY firefighter, and the process of bringing in a cart over the rubble to take the body out, escorted by rescue workers.  All work at Ground Zero would cease and all would pause to pay respect as the remains were taken out to the morgue truck.  However, as rescue workers reached to pick up the body, powder poured out of the clothing and onto the ground. The workers scooped up what they could and poured it into a body bag, along with the firefighter's helmet. The paid rescue workers couldn't leave the area, but Luis was able to come and go at will, at least at first. He proudly showed us pictures of himself sitting on "the pile", as the rescue workers called it, holding two cartons of Marlboros that he had brought in for the firefighters. Apparently there was no provision for getting cigarettes to the rescue workers, and his delivery was greeted with profuse thanks. Quickly the rescue became more organized, and many of those who had rushed to help in the early hours were displaced by the organized rescue efforts. Luis was out of a job as a rescue worker. However, he proudly carries these few pictures. They are rare; cameras were not permitted within the work zone, and the media was kept at bay many blocks from the site. All show the twisted mounds of debris and exhausted, discouraged men, covered with dust and ash.  In all of these, Luis wears a hard hat, almost jauntily displaying the American flag; he is a Mexican by birth, an American by choice.  His pride in contributing to the rescue efforts is apparent as he gives us copies of his precious photos and encourages us to tell his story. Helga reports several weeks later seeing Luis on the evening news here in New York, advocating for the numerous illegal workers who toiled in the towers for long wages and low pay. He is trying to see that the workers and their families do not miss out on the financial aid being distributed to the legal workers. I am not at all surprised to hear it.