Narda and Malka left the house early today, so I had a few moments to myself, so I turned the tv on. THAT was my reminder what today is.
September 11th. The 7th anniversary of a tragic day.
I forgot.
I live in NYC.
I SAW the towers fall with my own eyes.
I HATE when people invoke September 11th, as an excuse for racism, bigotry, hatred and war. Because if they do? You can bet they aren’t from NYC.
I lived with walking around and seeing pictures of missing people plastered everywhere.
Now? “ground zero” is a tourist stop.
I wonder if other graveyards hold as much interest.
Those are my thoughts on today. I’m a little bitter about how the world treats it. I think the world has lost its focus about it, and that those 3000 people are more than a name read aloud, and that nothing should be built on the site of the towers. But that’s just me.
Hydrangeas Are pretty 
i don’t live in NYC and did not see the towers fall live, but on TV like most of the rest of the world. that being said, i imagine that people visit ground zero as a way to finally have an “in person” connection to the place where they witnessed horror via the tv, a place to which they previously felt connected, but in a much different way than before they were able to be there in person. making ground zero a touristy place is a weird thing (especially if money is being made in inappropriate ways), but i don’t think it is weird that people would want to visit that area and pay their respects to what happened there 7 years ago. it may be the only way people know to connect to their personal experiences of 9/11. as for whether other graveyards hold as much interest…many do, yes. take arlington national cemetary, for instance.
my brother is an NYPD police officer, so new yorkers (and others who were personally affected by the events of 9/11) are in my thoughts today for sure!
In a way yes other graveyards do hold alot of interest. Pearl Harbor, Oklahoma City, and even Auschwitz have a tremendous amount of people visiting them as tourist spots every year. I think, for people that didn’t have a personal connection it is a way for them to see what others did experience in a smaller scale.
Shelli,
Your post gave me chills. As you may or may not remember, my aunt was among the nearly 3000 murdered on that day. I can’t quite understand why anyone NEEDS to be there (other than families) but I can appreciate respect shown. I cannot respect the gawkers and the press who further victimize the families by photographing them on such a horrible day.
I, personally, will never return to Ground Zero. The image is burned into my brain from when I went with the Family Assistance Center about a month after the Towers fell. Everytime I hear the National Anthem I see what I saw that day. Not because I think that anyone was particularly “patriotic” (most were average people (not even necessarily Americans) just going to work), but because of the phrase “Gave proof through the night that our Flag was still there.”
Flame away if commenters must…..
Dana
NYer now living in Ohio. It still shocks my senses every time I return by plane and fly over the city and do not see those towers. I also wonder what the manic rush is to “rebuild,” as new towering buildings will offer some sort of “in-your-face” proof to terrorists that they didn’t “win.” To me, it would be like building a boat marina at Pearl Harbor, a shopping mall at the bombing site in Oklahoma City, or the like. Actually, if I’m not mistaken, I think Oklahoma had the right idea. No new government building was put on that site, instead it became a memorial park for loved ones and visitors alike to pause to reflect on the enormity of what happened. I wish the same would be possible in lower Manhattan.
Love your site, keep it up!!
Valerie
Oh, the missing person fliers were AWFUL. 8732987329 kinds of awful. It was such sad, desperate, empty hope. We left flowers under some of the biggest collections of posters, but oh God, I had to walk away.
I will never forget those awful collections of fliers. When a friend and I went to bring toiletries and other supplies to rescue workers, I just couldn’t walk by them quickly enough.