Sabrina, leaving flowers in front of the 9/11 commemorative tiles, on her way to school
You cannot live in downtown New York City and not still be reminded of 9/11. The ghosts of the towers, their huge absence, remain as palpable as any buildings in the city. The formal memorial of the towers' footprints are about to be dedicated this week. And there are still many informal memorials scattered about at firehouses, parks and parking lots.
The little girl above is my granddaughter, Sabrina Rose, a couple of years ago. Today, she is seven. For five years, five days a week, she has been walking 15-minutes with her mom or dad to and from school in the West Village in downtown New York. Along the way, every day, she passes vivid reminders of 9/11, including the fence behind her in the photo above.
Sabrina, and her five-year old sister Chloe, who now makes the same walk, weren't born when the tragedy happened ten years ago, but they have lived their whole lives in what would have been the shadows of The World Trade Center.
Both their father and uncle lived downtown on 9/11/01, and had friends who worked in the twin towers.
From his apartment, my son Cary saw the second plane hit, and watched the iconic buildings fall. (His former university classmate, Jeremy Glick, was one of the heros of United 93, who helped cause the plane to crash in a Pennsylvania field, rather than hit a building in Washington, D.C. Last year I made a pilgrimage to the crash site, and wrote about it here.)
My older son Randall, who had held business meetings in the World Trade Center just days before the attack, was under the ground in a train nearby, and volunteered at Ground Zero in the days after, offering food to firefighters and other workers in the sulphurous, burning rubble.
Sabrina and Chloe's school is around the corner from FDNY Squad 18, with its proudly painted firehouse doors. The firefighters are good neighbors and invite the children to sit in the firetrucks.
That Greenwich Village firehouse lost seven firefighters on 9/11.
On a memorial plaque at the firehouse, a line by poet Walt Whitman, from Song of Myself says: "They have cleared the beams away, they tenderly Lift me forth."
Between the school and firehouse, and Sabrina and Chloe's apartment, is St. Vincent's Hospital, now closed. Firefighters treated at the hospital after the initial attack returned to the WTC site only to be killed when the towers collapsed. Walls of the hospital displayed photos and information in the weeks after 9/11, placed by people who hoped against hope that their loved ones were lost, not killed.
The link fence across the street at a parking lot still displays hundreds of tiles, created by individuals and groups, children and artists from around the world. In their simplicity and variety the tiles are haunting, and I have photographed many of them over the years.
Tiles for America has remained a people's memorial for ten years.
We need to remember, for generations to come. In the next decade, post- 9/11, let us strive to better our country in any way we can, and concentrate on the things that make America great, from within. Let us strive to offer children a life filled with possibilities for all, filled with tolerance and opportunities. Let us fight for that, against the forces of greed and selfishness and bigotry. Let us be steadfast.
Let us do these things for the young ones who will be living in this country into the next century and beyond.
That would be a living, lasting memorial to those who fell that blue-sky day, ten years ago.
the future is theirs
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ccdarling
nilesite
cancerdancer
Liberal Southern Democrat
Emily Rapp
Nick Carraway
Salon.com
Comments
Your sons must be forever changed by their experience and I truly hope all the things you suggested will be done to help our children be better people.
R
Thank you for the loving tribute.
The pictures of the girls are wonderful. Especially the one with the pink roses.
I was living in D.C. on 9-11-01 and saw the Pentagon smoke from my window. I'll never forget that day. Nor should any of us.
Thanks for the lovely tribue to heroes and their legacies.
Thank you for writing this.