Artistcrafts.com
September 11, 2001 Tragedy
Memorial Website

I wish I hadn't come here..

What's left of the World Trade Center is a horrible site.  The "shell" looks so puny compared to the former glory of the Twin Towers.  I remember the towers going upon...I sure never thought I'd see the day they came down...at least not like this.

I thought all of the shots I'd seen in the media had prepared me.  They hadn't.  I could smell the destruction all around me.  The stench in the air made me sick, and I couldn't get it out of my clothes, my skin, my hair for hours.  The site sickened me so that I couldn't eat for about 9 hours.  And despite what I ate, I just couldn't get that taste out of my mouth...

The hole in the skyline hadn't prepared me for this.  I lost it.  I had to get off of my feet before my legs buckled.  I couldn't stop the tears from flowing down my face.

A reporter for "laughing Stock" magazine interviewed me about my thoughts on this whole situation.  He couldn't believe his luck; not only was I a Native New Yorker, born and bred, but I was also a Native Washingtonian.  I had personally witnessed the destruction at both strike sites.  Somehow, talking to this man helped me clarify my own thoughts on this mess, and realize that there just aren't words in our vocabulary strong enough to describe the magnitude of these events on New York, and on America itself...

The image of what's left of the facade is permanently burned into my brain.  I kept seeing it the whole drive back to DC.  The smell of destruction and decay still haunts me.

Before visiting the site, I advocated leaving the skeleton of the building intact, and turning it into a memorial to what used to be, to the heroes who gave their lives trying to save others, to the spirit of New York...but visiting changed my mind.  That shell is just too painful, and leaving it up would only wound New York for years to come.

I thanked the few police and rescue workers I saw with Victory Ribbon pins, wanting to tell them all somehow just how much what they were all doing meant to me, but again, I knew there were no words or gestures that could express how I was feeling...