9/11

It used to be possible from the streets of Chinatown to look up and see the silver wrapped treasures that were the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Now, there is simply a hole in the skyline.

Any American who can remember the World Trade Center attacks of September 11th, 2001 can remember the exact place, moment, and way they heard the news. Even those who were not New Yorkers felt the horror, the struggle and the absolute shock the entire country felt when they learned of the wound that had been inflicted on their country.

When I stand, fingers clutching the metal fence, and peer down into the still healing sore that is the World Trade Center site, I am suddenly thirteen. I am not going to lie; when our middle school principle told the students at a general assembly, I thought it was a joke. Planes don’t fly into buildings.

I thought of the buildings I’d try so hard to find in sky line when my Grandpa would drive me to the airport. I thought of the strong silver towers that were so beautiful. No, there was no way something could knock them down.

Later, as I sat in the classroom, far away in Houston, TX, I could see the buildings crumble, crash, and burn. They teetered, shook and tumbled with fire and black smoke. People were jumping from windows. And thousands were wandering the streets, walking the bridges, covered in soot. This was no joke.

My new home is not far from the hole that once harbored the giants; my walk home each day is right past it. When passing by, I think of it as a web that encompassed my city. Like my parents unable to return from their business convention, I would have been unable to return home. My street would have been covered in debris.

I can only imagine what Downtown Manhattan must have felt after such a catastrophe. Streets were shut off, memorabilia for those lost lined the streets. It must have been awful.

As much as the site is now a tourist attraction (every single one of my out of town friends insist on seeing it), it was a tourist deterrent in 2001. Our class trip to Washington D.C. almost got canceled from fear of hi-jacking that year. It most certainly would have been canceled if scheduled for New York.

This had a huge impact on Chinatown, an area that thrives on tourist revenue. Not only were the tourists not visiting, but the office workers were no longer passing by. Streets were blocked off; people were losing jobs. It was a mess.

But the Chinatown I pass through now is up and thriving. Just as I don’t have to see the gap in the skyline if I don’t look off to the side, Chinatown can look past this event and carry on.

However, just as I remember being thirteen and horrified at the fiery destruction, residents and workers can still remember the way September 11th crippled their daily lives.

Today, tours of the World Trade Center are available from the WTC Tribute Center.