Survivor

Kiki came to visit recently on her spring break.  She hadn't been to New York in a few years so she had a laundry list of things to do and see.  Quite a few of them involved food.  It is one of the ways you can tell she is my daughter.   She also likes to shop, another way.  Both of those things can be accomplished in New York easily.   She also enjoys doing some sightseeing.  I wouldn't say museums are necessarily her thing, although she will go to an exhibit if it is of particular interest to her. 

One item on her agenda was the 9/11 memorial.  It opened recently on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.  We hadn't been yet.  It is always on our list but for a number of reasons yet we hadn't made it there.  When Kiki mentioned she would like to go, I offered to take her but Chizz said he thought it was time, so we went.  Although there is no charge, you must obtain timed passes for the site, either online or at a location near the memorial   Right now it is pretty easy to get the passes.  Not sure if it will stay that way for the summer tourist season.  The museum is not yet open, they are hoping for a September 2012 opening date.  There was a small line when we arrived and, not surprisingly, they have quite a bit of security - similar to an airport.  They have manage to "Disney-fy" the line, meaning there are so many twists and turns you aren't exactly sure where you are in line or how close you are to the front until you are there.

The first thing that struck me is that there is still quite a bit of construction going on, it is loud.  you hear jackhammers, and hammering and associated sounds.  The second thing that struck me is that there were a number of very young children there.  We saw a Boy Scout group that included some Cub Scouts, who looked pretty young - first or second grade maybe.  I  just don't think I would have brought my kids to something like this so young, even given our situation.  How do you explain it to them? 

The memorial itself are two inverted waterfall type fountains laid out in the original footprint of the two World Trade Center buildings.  Surrounding each fountain is a continuous ledge

or platform inscribed with the names of the people who died in each tower, plus those in the planes, plus those at the pentagon, plus those in the first World Trade Center attack in 1993.  It is a powerful presentation.  One I can't really capture in photos.  It was hard to get a photo of the entire site or both fountains in one shot.  This shot captures the plaza in between the two fountains, off camera to the far left of the photo is the North Tower Memorial, to the far right the South Tower Memorial.   People walk around the ledges and read the names.  There are apps for your cell phone so you can find out where on the memorial a name is located.  There are also kiosks located at the site that perform the same function.  It is overwhelming looking at the names.  The names are grouped by building and then together in affiliation, like all employees of certain companies are together unless their families requested their names be in a different locations.  My understanding is that husbands and wives, if requested, were placed next to each other as well as other family members. 

The fountains are beautiful and in a way mesmorizing.  Kiki & I watched the water for some time and it almost appears that it is moving upward as opposed to falling. 

We walked around the edge of the South Tower memorial and found the employees from Chizz's company.  We found the name of his supervisor in the meeting with him that morning and the name of the woman he walked with down 30 flights of stairs.  She decided to take the elevator down the rest of the way and went to the elevator bank at the 78th (?) floor.  This was shortly before the second plane hit the tower. She didn't make

 it out.  I was taken by the number of names that included "and her unborn child".  Victims I hadn't thought about before.  It shows how young many of the people were that were killed.  In the prime of their lives, having chidren, starting careers.  One of Chizz's colleagues currently is a young man who lost both of his parents that day. He was 12 or 13.    And now he is working at a company whose history is as connected to 9/11 as his own.  We noticed a few people that left flowers but not many other remembrances.  There isn't a place for things like photos and teddy bears and other symbols that people often leave.  I am glad in a way.  It makes it a more somber remembrance.  There is a place for those other things but here I think it is good to keep it a little more reserved. 

 

Some names are touched so often, the etching is a little brighter from the number of hands that have touched it.  Most of these names are those of the heros from the various planes, whose stories we have all heard.  These men are the connection to 9/11 for those who didn't lose a member of their family or a friend or an acquaintance.  It gives everyone a personal association. 

One of the most spectacular images at the 9/11 memorial was the "Survivor Tree".  The tree is a pear tree that was found during the rescue and cleanup effort in the days following 9/11.  It was badly burned and scarred.  The tree was taken to a nursery in the Bronx where it was nursed back to health.  I read an article that quoted someone from the nursery indicating that it was touch and go but once it got leaves on it again that following spring, they were pretty sure it would survive.  It has become symbolic.  And when we were there it was in full bloom.  There have been story after story about what the tree represents and how it can serve as a reminder of all we have been through, how we can bounce back, how we should never forget.  I don't need those reminders, I have my own symbol and living here in New York City,  I am reminded at least weekly, if not daily, of the joy and beauty of survival.