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| North Tower Reflecting Pool |
September 11, 2001
We all know that date. We all watched as the horrific events
of that day unfolded on television. Our country had been attacked. We were
scared. We were sad. But above all, we were united.
I was in the 4th grade. I still remember exactly
where I was when I first heard the words “The Twin Towers fell.” Although I had
no idea what the Twin Towers were, nor what the connotations of these attacks
were, I knew it wasn’t good. I remember seeing my mom crying as she was
watching a telethon a few days later, and I asked her why she was so upset. She
replied, “Because a lot of people died and that’s really sad.”
I remember the intense patriotism our country exhibited in
the weeks, months, and even years after the events of 9/11. I remember seeing
American flags everywhere. I remember our country coming together, united in
our shock, grief, and will. It’s a shame our country can’t be like that all the
time.
Everyone has their own stories from that day. It’s something
we will truly never forget. Something we SHOULD never forget. The 9/11 Museum
ensures this. It’s powerful. It’s raw. It’s heartbreaking. It’s uplifting.
Opening a little over a year ago, the 9/11 Museum has already
been visited by over a million people. Now that I’ve been, I truly feel like
it’s something that should not be missed on a visit to New York City. It’s such
an important part of our history, and New York’s history. It’s a way to honor
those who lost their lives that day. A way to respect their memory by giving
two or three hours of your day to re-live those events. The events that led to 2,977
people tragically losing their lives.
Upon entering the museum, we went through security and then
watched a short 15-minute introduction video called Facing Crisis. The video
featured President George W. Bush, Condoleezza Rice, British Prime Minister
Tony Blair, and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, speaking about the events
of 9/11 and the global impact they had. Some of the things they were saying
still hold true today.
After the video, we began making our way through the museum.
It’s very well laid out and there’s a natural flow, so you can take your time
without feeling like you’re going to miss something. They took such care in
organizing it. The museum was truly made out of love. This story needed to be
told.
I had prepared myself. I knew it was going to be difficult. And
I won’t sugarcoat it, at times it was absolutely devastating. The first moment
I realized just how hard it would be to get through the museum was when I saw
some steel beams hanging in front of me. I read the plaque that provided a
description. The mangled, twisted beams in front of me were the beams from the
north tower impact site. Tears immediately began falling upon the realization
that I was looking the metal where a terrorist flew a commercial airliner full
of people into a building full of more people.
The museum turns something that you’ve watched on television
many, many times into something brutally real.
There’s an exhibition with a photo of every single person
who lost their lives that day. A room where you can sit and read about them.
Where you can hear their family members recount memories of them. You can see
pieces of the slab that are still intact underneath the museum and excavation
of some of the beams. There’s a piece of the large transmission antennae from
the top of one of the towers. A fire engine that had been crushed by falling
debris.
The heart of the museum is the 9/11 Exhibition, where you
have a complete timeline of the events from that day. Eyewitness accounts, news
clippings, survivor stories, and stories about so many heroes who emerged that
day. There are answering machine recordings from people who phoned loved ones
from the towers or the planes. Shoes belonging to people who walked out of the
towers and survived. It was incredible.
It’s hard, even now, to wrap my head completely around
everything I saw. Like I said before, it turned something that was always just
this horrible thing that happened 14 years ago into a real, tangible thing that
I feel like I can now see clearer.
In my 23 years of life, only 9 of them were spent not
knowing about the existence of terrorism. I don’t know a world where terrorism
isn’t discussed in the news at least once a week. I remember when President
Obama addressed the nation to inform us Osama Bin Laden had been killed. My dad
texted me to ask me how I felt about it. He said he’d realized that for most of
my life, that had been something that was sort of looming out there. I hadn’t ever
thought about it like that, but it’s true. It was always something that was
just understood about this world. There are radicals who exist and have no
respect for human life. I’ve known it was real, but now I’ve seen with my own
eyes what it can really do. But, we also must remember that the actions of
these extremists don’t speak for all who share their religion or culture. We
can’t fight hate with hate.
I felt like I had done my part in honoring what happened on
September 11th by attending the museum. There are still so many
families coping with the loss of their loved ones from this senseless act. I
hope they find peace knowing that their sons, daughters, fathers, mothers,
sisters, and brothers will forever be remembered through this museum. If you
have the opportunity to go to the 9/11 museum, I strongly encourage it.
After seeing everything at the museum, you leave with a
sense of peace…and hope. I’ve realized that one day, I’ll have to explain the
events of 9/11 to my children. It’s heartbreaking to think I’ll have to explain
something so tragic and deep-rooted in hate to them. But, in sharing this
story, I get to also share with them the stories of ALL of those heroes who
emerged that day, and the days after. Those people who sacrificed their lives
to run into those buildings and save as many people as possible. Those men and
women in the military who willingly put their lives on the line when President
Bush decided to invade Afghanistan and Iraq. We’re blessed to live in a country
full of heroes.
They may have scared us that day. They may have shaken us. But
one thing is for certain, they didn’t break us.
I pray for this country, for our leaders, for our military.
I pray for those extremists. The ones with such disregard for human life. The
ones who are lost.
I pray for all of us.
I pray for love.
God bless,
Alex
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