Honoring the Victims of 9/11

I was in New York a couple of days after the 10 year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and one of the highlights of our visit was being able to visit the Memorial at the Ground Zero site. I must admit I had not been following all of the events leading up to the 10 Year Anniversary, so I was not aware that the Memorial was almost complete (the museum will open in 2012). I was very fortunate to have been able to get 5 visitors passes 11 days before our trip into the city and only 4 days after the Memorial had been dedicated. If you are planning on going, make your reservations here.

The subway trip down was almost uneventful. We were on an express train and I wasn't sure if it was going to stop at Park Place, so we hopped off thinking we would have to transfer to a local. Just as we were all on the platform, we heard that indeed the next stop was the one we wanted. I have never seen 5 women over the age of 45 move so fast. I think we stunned the other passengers who giggled and asked us if we were sure!

It was a bit of a walk to the Memorial from our station. I stopped to ask a businessman who was kind enough to give us lengthy directions to the sight. Actually I did not meet an unpleasant New Yorker during our entire visit. Everyone was helpful and friendly and accommodating. The visit is very well organized. After you pass through security there are guides all along the way checking passes and directing you to the entrance.

It was quite humbling entering the site. It was a very large plaza area with trees and benches and it was very quiet which seemed unusual in such a large city such as New York. 

I felt an energy all around me, but I did not feel sadness until I walked over to the south pool and saw all of the names engraved on the plaques. The moving water was calming and energetic as the waterfalls cascaded down the sides of the square fountain, to the square empty box in the center. What a beautiful tribute to those who lost their lives during  such a heinous event.

The callery pear tree became known as the Survivor Tree after sustaining extensive damage, but living through the 9/11 terror attacks. In October '01, the tree with lifeless limbs, snapped roots & blackened trunk was discover & freed from the piles of smoldering rubble in the plaza of the WTC. The tree was originally planted in the 1970's in the vicinity of buildings 4 & 5 in the WTC complex near Church Street. The damaged tree measured 8' tall when it first arrived at the Nursery  in the Bronx. It was nursed back to health & today has grown to a height of about 30 feet.

The rebuilding continues at a steady  pace outside the chain link fence that surrounds the Memorial. The Spirit of the American People has not been broken.

We are reminded that life moves forward whether we want it to or not, and it is us who chooses how we participate and make our own lives meaningful and purposeful.

Ta ta for now...


view my other blog about 9/11:

statue of liberty

What were you doing on 9/11/2001? I can't believe that today marks the 10th Anniversary of that horrific event which changed the lives of so many. 

It was a Tuesday morning and I was getting ready for work. I remember turning on the news and hearing the first reports of a plane crashing into the World Trade Center. Being on the West Coast, it was all happening at peak morning hours here. I couldn't believe my eyes it was so surreal. I ran and woke my husband up shouting something to the effect of "they're crashing into the World Trade Center, they're crashing into the World Trade Center!" We could not take our eyes away from the t.v., it was all so unbelievable, then the second plane crashed and there was news of other hijackings. What was going on?

We listened in disbelief all the way into work. At work we were all tuned in to the unfolding events. One employee called in late because he had relatives he was waiting to hear from. Everything seemed so empty and quiet. I don't remember getting through the day, I do remember sending everyone home early.

I was hardly ever away from the t.v. I felt numb and in shock that this had happened. I clung to every news report, every update, every newsflash as if I was waiting to hear that it was all some kind of cruel, sick joke.  Although I did not know her, I found out later  that Lisa Frost, a 22 year old from a neighboring city had died on flight 175 which crashed into the South Tower. She was a recent graduate of Boston University who was headed home before she would start her life and career in San Francisco. That would never happen. She died along with 2981 other people who had no idea that their lives would be so brutally interrupted that day. I remember driving by the memorial tribute to her by the Lake in Rancho Santa Margarita, an area filled with flowers, balloons and American Flags.

Early on the morning of September 11, 2001, 19 hijackers  took control of four commercial airliners en route to San Francisco and Los Angeles after takeoff from Boston, Newark, and Washington, D.C. At 8:46 a.m., five hijackers crashed American Airlines Flight 11 into the World Trade Center's North Tower and at 9:03 a.m. another five hijackers crashed United Airlines Flight 175 into the South Tower.

Five hijackers flew American Airlines Flt. # 77 into the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m. A fourth flight, under the control of four hijackers, crashed United Airlines # 93 near Shanksville, Pennsylvania at 10:03 a.m. after the passengers fought the hijackers. Flight 93's ultimate target is believed to have been either the Capitol or the White House. Flight 93's cockpit voice recorder revealed crew and passengers attempted to seize control of the plane from the hijackers after learning through phone calls that similarly hijacked planes had been crashed into buildings that morning Once it became evident to the hijackers that the passengers might regain control of the plane, one hijacker ordered another to roll the plane and intentionally crash it. Soon afterward, Flight 93 crashed into a field near Shanksville.

Today marks the 10th Anniversary. There will be a myriad of memorials and tributes. In the spot where the two towers once stood, they have built the 9/11 Memorial. Two huge pools have every victims name engraved on plaques that surround them. I will have the opportunity to visit this memorial on September 15th, 2011. It will be a solemn visit, I am sure.

Ta ta for now...


view my visit to the memorial