Sunday, September 11, 2011
Remembering 9/11
If you want to see an inspiring 9/11-associated documentary, check out Nova’s Engineering Ground Zero. It’s superb. While watching it, I was awed by the devotion and determination of workers to achieve their collective goal: To rebuild Ground Zero, with the highest priority being to finish the 9/11 Memorial by today’s 10th anniversary of the attack. They simply were not going to miss today’s deadline. They didn’t. …
I don’t have much else to add to all that’s been written about 9/11 over the past few days. I’ll just say that some relatives and I visited New York about two and half weeks after the attack, deliberately going there to “spend dollars” (remember that appeal?) and to pay homage. The saddest moment was venturing down to southern Manhattan and, to my surprise, still seeing that horrible gray dust covering empty store fronts, back-alley fire escapes and window sills. The gray dust got to me. I felt like I was violating hallowed ground.
National Guard troops were everywhere, manning barricades and blocking off streets. The NYPD were also there in force. The somber tourists -- and that’s what we were, tourists -- were politely kept back as unseen construction crews could be heard loudly hammering and digging away behind buildings that blocked views of Ground Zero. It was the same inspiring devotion and determination that I mentioned above, albeit it was tinged then with an almost overwhelming sense of sadness and disbelief.
If you want to see an inspiring 9/11-associated documentary, check out Nova’s Engineering Ground Zero. It’s superb. While watching it, I was awed by the devotion and determination of workers to achieve their collective goal: To rebuild Ground Zero, with the highest priority being to finish the 9/11 Memorial by today’s 10th anniversary of the attack. They simply were not going to miss today’s deadline. They didn’t. …
I don’t have much else to add to all that’s been written about 9/11 over the past few days. I’ll just say that some relatives and I visited New York about two and half weeks after the attack, deliberately going there to “spend dollars” (remember that appeal?) and to pay homage. The saddest moment was venturing down to southern Manhattan and, to my surprise, still seeing that horrible gray dust covering empty store fronts, back-alley fire escapes and window sills. The gray dust got to me. I felt like I was violating hallowed ground.
National Guard troops were everywhere, manning barricades and blocking off streets. The NYPD were also there in force. The somber tourists -- and that’s what we were, tourists -- were politely kept back as unseen construction crews could be heard loudly hammering and digging away behind buildings that blocked views of Ground Zero. It was the same inspiring devotion and determination that I mentioned above, albeit it was tinged then with an almost overwhelming sense of sadness and disbelief.
