Health & Fitness
9/11 Revisited During New York Trip
The memory of the 9/11 attack will never be forgotten. Almost 10 years later and reconstruction at New York's World Trade Center location continues constantly.E
A recent trip to New York focused on the World Trade Center site. The day's itinerary included a stop at Chelsea Market, a New York landmark, for browsing and lunch followed by a train ride to the World Trade Center.
The attack occurred almost 10 years ago. On my first visit 8 and a half years ago a very large pit was visible from a viewing stand. On July 13, 2011 construction activity is moving at an extremely fast pace (24 hours a day, seven days a week).
Heavy equipment visible from every angle. Two tall towers were starting to take shape, no longer called North or South. The North Tower replacement was being erected as was a second, adjacent building (note that four buildings with World Trade Center addresses were destroyed on that day). The South Tower replacement construction has not started.
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Two one-acre areas bordered by trees with a black surface, memorial sites, occupy the exact locations of the North and South Towers that crumbled. The visitor's center displays movie clips, pictures, original posters requesting missing person info and three walls of pictures showing people that died in the attacks. The police, firemen, and rescue workers are also honored.
I recommend taking the tour narrated by 9/11 survivors. A Pentagon survivor (A plane was flown into the Pentagon on 9/11), and a survivor from the North building narrated while walking (and stopping) through the World Financial Building, which runs parallel to the World Trade Center campus, about one long city block.
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I hope you take the tour yourself, hence I'll provide just a little detail. It is, however, extremely emotional and alarming. Being within 500 feet of the World Trade Center's new construction; remembering, imagining and reliving the attack in your own mind.
Horror. Panic. Glass shattering in all buildings, including buildings facing the tower's campus. Listening to the survivor's stories. Dust and rubble flowing through the streets. People on the upper levels unable to descend. People walking, running and crying.
These are highly emotional memories. Innocent individuals like you and I died because they went to work. Innocent people from all walks of life.
American Express lost 11 employees that day and decided to build their own memorial versus waiting for the WTC memorial completion, which not open as of this writing. The designer created an 11-sided pool of water with individual names clearly visible on a side. Directly above, randomly placed and randomly timed water droplets, symbolizing tears, falling into the pool below. Each tear creates a circular wave, which collides with other circular waves – overlapping tears. Tears from across our nation. Pain and sorrow experienced by American Express, loved ones and every American.
Lets us not forget the fourth hijacked plane that crashed before reaching its destination and the sacrifice those passengers made.
Absolutely take a trip to New York and take the WTC tour, $15 per person. Remember that freedom is not free. Witness the amazing reconstruction. Remember! Don't hate. Never let our guard down in memory of all the innocent lives lost on that terrible day we call 9/11.
