Reality is sad but hopeful, too

One thing I was adamant about fitting into my recent trip to New York was a visit to Ground Zero, the site where the twin World Trade Center towers once reached towards the heavens.   For awhile it looked like there would still not be time in seven days to fit it in, but at last we managed to squeeze it into the final hours of our time in the city.

Next to the site is a museum dedicated to the terrorist attack of 1993 and to the events of that tragic day eleven years ago when airplanes commanded by terrorists and full of innocent people flew into the towers and brought them down.  The museum also pays tribute to the attack on the Pentagon and United 93, all fallen victims of the hands of terrorists. 

The museum is of full images, and quotes, and remnants of things that belonged to the victims and of the building itself.  The atmosphere inside the museum was like church, a solemn reverence for what it represented. The only sounds I heard were the occasional muffled sniffles, mostly coming from myself.

The item that caught my attention more than anything else was an airplane window found in the rubble on a nearby street.  As I stood in front of the display case I thought about the last thing the person sitting next to that window saw through it.   Was it the blue sky that was so prominent that day?  Was it the inside of an office? Was it flames?  Was it God?

If you look closely at the picture I took you can see my ghost-like reflection, as if I am the spirit of the person in the seat looking out; as if my spirit remains there, trapped in the wreckage.  I did not stage the photo that way, but the irony of it seems appropriate for the situation.  In a way we are all trapped in the wreckage of that day.

After the attacks of 9/11/01 America vowed to rebuild and overcome.  There was a surge in patriotism and we displayed our red, white, and blue as a banner of our resilience.  We would show our enemies that we could be victorious no matter what was thrown at us. We were like roosters crowing at a new day.

Well, if you think the terrorists did not win that day, think again.  Their mission was accomplished.  History is now divided by life before 9/11 and after.  Life in the US of A was not perfect before, but has taken a downhill plunge ever since.  Our economy has fallen with the towers, while our suspicions of everyone and everything are heightened.  We are living in a time where the politics of the country are dividing us into extreme categories, instilling bitterness and hatred on each side, instead of uniting us as a compassionate whole. Our leaders are more concerned with their own personal agendas than the agenda of the country.  What will it take to finally heal the wounds inflicted that day?

After we left the museum we crossed over to the memorial site.  In the footprints of the towers are now twin fountains, or reflecting pools, with water flowing down calm, peaceful falls. Along the top ledge of the fountain's wall are the inscriptions of the names of the people who perished in each particular tower and the plane that hit it.  The names of the victims of the Pentagon and United 93 have been added as well.

There is a gap between the top of the lower fountain wall and the upper ledge, and you can reach in and touch the still water where it pools.  To be able to run my fingers through the cool water was so refreshing on that hot August afternoon. From that flat pool the water falls deep into another pool, and then falls once again into a seemingly bottomless pit.   

Around the memorial site it is business as usual.  The new buildings to replace the towers are bright, shining and rising tall.  It will truly be a spectacular site when it is all done and the construction clutter is cleared away.



One World Trade Center

Seven days of walking through city streets left me practically limping through the museum and memorial, but I do not regret a single painful step.  I am thankful for the opportunity to have seen the site for myself.  It gave me time to think, and ponder if there is a lesson to be learned there amongst the shiny glass, smooth stone and cascading water.  Should we as a country rebuild from our foundations, once again experience the cool, calm waters, and then clear away the clutter and get on with it, business as usual?  Or should we continue down the path we are currently on and plunge mercilessly into a bottomless pit?

If you are curious as to why the events of 9/11/01 are important to me you may be interested in reading my blog from last year.

http://elizabethshoemake.blogspot.com/2011/09/we-cannot-change-past-but-future-is.html