I am fortunate that my life was not dramatically touched by the September 11 events. Well... at least not any more dramatically than anyone else who has started jumping at a sudden noise or studying low flying airplanes a little too long.
However, since I lived in New York for a number of years -- and because I am now working in Washington, DC, I do feel I have a little extra perspective to add.
As a wanna-be actor I made the majority of my living in NY via "temp" jobs. And, a few of those jobs led me directly to the World Trade Center.
I will now always rememember the "quirky" express elevator rides to the accounting firm I worked at on floors 97-101. I will also continue to tell the story of how, on a windy day, the water in the toilets would slosh back and forth as if we were on a boat.
Unfortunately, I also get to tell the story of how I was in the World Trade Center -- on the concourse level -- when the bomb went off in 1993.
All of this, and more, went through my mind as my sister and I stood on the roof of her office building on September 11 and watched the Pentagon burn.
We went to NYC about two weeks later.
We thought and talked and debated about it for a long time... and then decided to go ahead and go... It seemed... necessary... somehow.
The
drive from Maryland to NY was uneventful -- except for the
additions of flags, and other patriotic statements on almost
every overpass on I-95.
Approaching the city was odd.
I had seen that view dozens of times as I travled to and from
Maryland from my NYC apartment. But this time, I felt like I
couldn't tell uptown from downtown. Everything was measured
by the WTC and the Empire State Building. WTC was downtown.
Empire State was midtown.
If I exited an unfamiliar subway station I simply looked for the twin towers. "Oh... there they are.... that way is downtown..."
Other changes in the city were equally unsettling -- simply because I wasn't expecting them.
Battery Park was
(and probably still is) completely closed off.
It is basically now a military base.
Tents, HumVs, National Guard, etc fill the entire park...
When you hear someone say that the area is like a war zone.... you can't truly comprehend it.
Not until you find
yourself wearing an air-filter mask as you walk down streets
filled with shops that are practically unrecognizable due to
the dust and debris that covers them.
Then, if you walk more, you suddenly realize that a red cross
worker is asking you if you would like some coffee because it
is cold and rainy... and then, mask still at the ready due to
the smell of fire, chemicals, and who knows what else.... you
come to a park and instead find it filled with the military.
This webpage is
filled with images like the ones described above... and with
emails passed back and forth from friends still living in the
city.