World Trade Center – Manhattan
Trinity Church Like many
who weren’t there I spent many hours watching the events of
9/11 on television. I saw the horror and loss and then the
bravery as Americans showed what they were truly made of. It
was a bravery of the heart and not the paycheck. I was so
proud of being an American. So many people gave so much.
There was still the legitimate residue of fear.
As the one year anniversary drew closer it became more
and more imperative that I go to New York to see those
people who were so brave.
Jet Blue was the answer. They had a non-stop direct
flight into New York (I’d never been there so I had to learn
a lot about the mechanics of navigation). I packed all I
would need for a day trip in a many pocketed shoulder bag….
Tooth paste and tooth brush, change of underwear (I
remembered what my mother told me), cigarettes, cash, extra
mobile phone battery, mini video cam and extra batteries and
film, and last but not least a small Washington State flag.
I caught their last flight
out on September 10th and landed the next morning, the one
year anniversary.
Warned to be alert to cab drivers I picked up a yellow
cab at the airport and told him want I wanted to do; that I
was on a heart quest to see the World Trade Center. We
talked about him driving me about and came to an agreement
that I could hire him for the day.
Our first stop after coming
into Manhattan was at his cab stand where he bought me a cup
of tea and I used their powder room.
We drove all over and I got to see all the wonderful
things I’d only seen in pictures. He took me to a pier so we
could look back at the buildings. We traded mobile phone
numbers and he dropped me off downtown so I could walk for a
few hours.
He was like so many New
Yorkers, not born there but not a stranger amongst all the
peoples that make up America’s most wonderful melting pot.
So many people from all over the world, the streets were
crowded with cars and pedestrians and kindnesses.
I saw the gaping hole and
stood in line to see Trinity Church that had survived and
given sustenance to so many in the aftermath.
I placed my small Washington
State flag in the fence with all the other tributes. Inside
I prayed as I slowly walked through.
I found a nearby McDonalds and stood in line for lunch behind
a New York Police Officer. I told her I was from Seattle and
that I had come to thank them for all they had survived and
done.
I called my cab driver and he picked me up and took me
back to the airport. I’d done it. I had completed my heart
quest.
The majority of my film was ruined as I went through security
leaving New York but I have my memories. |
