9/11
I love New York City. There is so much to do, so much going on and so many people. It seems chaotic but somehow it works, at least most of the time.
On 9/11/2001 a few real bad guys from Saudi Arabia attempted to stop the party, to bring us down by attacking the financial capital of the country….
New Yorkers took a beating but they pulled together and got their city back on its feet. One World Trade Center is a monument to their resilience.
I Went to New York last week to One World Trade Center (also known as The Freedom Tower), and the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum. It was powerful. The Freedom Tower demonstrates our ability to bounce back from adversity and it felt good to be there. Its a big statement to the bad guys; “You think you can destroy us by blowing up a few buildings think again!“
Going to the museum was different than visiting the Freedom Tower, it was a somber and spiritual experience. After entering a large sparse open space, We walked down a ramp into the basement of one of the original towers. At the bottom it was a giant cavernous space surrounded by rough concrete walls it almost felt like we were inside the pyramids in Egypt. When we arrived at basement level it got very personal. Walls were covered with pictures of everyone that was killed in the attacks. You can look up their biographies. Everyone had family pictures and some personal history. It reminded me of the Holocaust museum in israel, Yad Vashem, which I saw on my trip in 2017.
The 9/11 museum is a shrine to the lives and sacrifices of so many innocents. Regular people just going to work, like the employees in the building or the brave first responders doing their jobs, the firefighters, cops and emts killed or sickened to death in the rubble.
As a paramedic, the half-melted fire engines and ambulances put things in perspective. It made it very personal.
I felt very grateful for not having had to deal with that horror. I’m very grateful to those who did deal with it.
The deaths of the employees of all those companies was a terrible loss. The first responders who died that day gave their lives in bravery and dedication to help others. I am proud that in we still have heros.
We need to avoid becoming complacent now that so many years have passed without a hudge attack. We seem safe today but there are still negative forces out there trying to get us.
It’s impossible to separate yourself from the 9/11 attacks. We can’t tell ourselves “that was a different time and place.” The 9/11 attacks were in our time. It is our current reality and we are not out of the woods.
Those were my thoughts on the train home. If you would like to comment on my blog you can reach me at info@providencekravmaga.com
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