Blogs by Flo Fitzpatrick
Crayons and Flight 800
6/22/2026 6:32:57 AM
One of my non-theater jobs in the late 1990s was showing apartments in Manhattan near Columbia University. I didn’t have a license but had some special deal that allowed me to work in the office and show apartments. I loved it. Got to view some great places and meet interesting people. One of the responsibilities was to scope out unused apartments and get them ready for prime time.
I think it was early 1998 when I was told the apartment I needed to check was connected to a mom and a child who were killed on Flight 800 in July of 1996. I don’t believe it was their primary residence. No one wanted to provide any information and I didn’t want to get nosy. Anyway, the backstory didn’t matter. It was devastating. At least ten unfinished crayola sketches were in the room the child had been using along with some stuffed animals lying on the bed.
I still see a coloring book and the room comes back into my mind. For awhile i collected “stuffies” and I often remember that kick in the gut from nearly thirty years aog. I never got over knowing the pain families after hearing about the flight, about wondering what that child would have grown up to be, and hoping that last moments were filled more with surprise than pain.
I’m not sure why I thought of those sketches today but the memory was such a clear reminder of how different I, and (thankfully) millions like me, are from the current crop of thieves, murderers, and con artists who’ve hijacked our nation’s government.
We hear “Iran” and think of other children lying dead and their loved ones who will carry that agony for the rest of their lives. We hear “immigrant child” and I don’t think “oh, good, more votes from people who hate ‘illegals!” We imagine the terror in the minds of children and their families who are caged and starving and living in conditions I wouldn’t wish on a rabid skunk. We hear “USAID” and feel sick knowing there’s nothing to do to stop the deplorable murder of the innocent thanks to the staggering greed and complete lack of empathy we witness on a daily basis.
I’m disgusted by the wreckage of the city where I was born. (Washington D.C.). But, while it will never be the same, repairs are possible. Grass and roses will grow. Buildings can be redesigned… with taste. A pool can return to its natural color. Sadly, people are more fragile.
If Team Trump were to visit the apartment of the victims of Flight 800, they’d breeze in and tweet about how they can create a big, beautiful apartment. They’d brush away every trace of the former occupants before gold plating the entire space.
They would never see the pieces of paper and the variety of colorful crayons scattered around a stuffed teddy bear. Unfinished works from a child’s incredible imagination. .
I find that immeasurably sad.
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