September 11th is a day our country will never forget.
Like most people, I will always remember
where I was when I heard the news.
My sister told me every year on September 11th, the people she worked with in New York City would retell stories of where they were and what happened to their offices. You see, she used to work walking distance from the towers {post 9/11} and the people of New York continue to live with and walk through the effects of 9/11 to this day.
When I heard talk of a memorial, I couldn’t imagine anything doing justice to the destruction and emotion of that day. How do you properly memorialize such a tragedy and immortalize thousands of lives?
I wasn’t sure it could be done.
Yet, it was. And, in my humble opinion, they did a really good job.
Below are some images from my trip this summer to New York when I had the opportunity to visit the 9/11 Memorial located on ground zero. I was moved more than words or these images can convey.
In order to visit the memorial you need to go to the visitor’s center where they will give you a ticket with a time frame for you to go. {I think this is temporary since there is still a lot of construction going on around the memorial. Once all the surrounding buildings are complete, the memorial should be a place where visitors and residents can sit as well as walk through in the city.}
Three items in the visitor’s center will remain in my heart and mind forever.
First was this flag:
It is called the Flag of Honor and the stripes include the names of
each person who perished in the attacks of 9/11.
Wow.
Second was this statue:
This six foot replica of the Statue of Liberty is covered in badges. Each badge and button represents a firefighter or emergency worker who died in the attacks. Just another of many moments of pause and reflection in this tiny shop...
And third, I have no picture, but it was the streaming video they had projected on the back wall of the small center. It played non stop images of that day and shared personal testimonies of survivors and people who experienced the day first hand. To hear this in the background as you walk around the center was emotional, to say the least.
To see so many ways to remember that day, the sounds, the memorabilia, it was so emotional -- and we hadn't even been to the actual memorial! Just the visitor center! But, I'm glad we made the trek.
After we left the visitor center we were able to walk through the actual memorial.
{This tarp is hiding construction still going on.
Some buildings are still being repaired, replaced and used for the memorial 11 years later!}
In case you don’t know about the memorial, they turned the base of each World Trade Center tower into two waterfall pools. They are magical to see, but the sound of the water rushing adds so much to the calm and peace of the site.
World Trade Center One:
World Trade Center Two:
The water falls down the edges and continues to fall down that square hole in the center. Below that square would have been the basement and parking garages for each of the towers.
Bordering each tower’s waterfall is a plaque. This plaque is engraved with every person’s name that died in the towers, on the flights and as an emergency worker.
We know this site is special because city planners did not build new buildings here. They left it a memorial. As it should be.
They are, however, building a new tower right next door. They’re calling it One World Trade Center:
I hope it stands strong for a very long time.
Dear New York and Dear World: We will never forget.
"I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” ~John 16:33
