NYC, 9/11 Memorial

If you are wondering, why I am writing about a visit to the Memorial as the first thing on my Blog this year.  It is because, I see it as THE START.  The starting of a new year, leaving behind all that we thought we could never salvage (Salvage meaning "that part of the property that survives the peril and is saved"). What 9/11 Memorial is doing here is "Saving the Hearts". 

The 9/11 Museum

We first visited the Museum located at the 9/11. It was unlike any other place I had visited before. There was a lull despite the soothing music that was being played. Although not fully constructed, the bits and pieces from the destruction that I could see through the glass was more than what I even wanted to see. I could feel my footsteps becoming heavier with each step and my heart getting completely torn apart. There is no way, I even remotely thought of taking a picture there because even though, I saw a hundred pictures with people smiling (Wall of Faces). I could see a life they might have lived, which cannot be caught in a picture anymore. 

In the center of all these pictures mounted on the walls, I could see boxes of tissues. Indeed that moment, I realized my misty eyes. There was no rage (which I usually feel when 9/11 is mentioned). There was a kind of void. There in front of me, I could see a young girl, being helped by the Museum Staff in locating a picture of her dear one. Once she found him......(I actually feel a loss of words to describe this moment).

Endless Tears

I came out to the parks with the largest man-made waterfalls in America. I could see the power with which the waters gushed through the walls and vanished into a black hole in the center. Inscribed in bronze are 3,000 names of all those who lost their lives here - men, women and children. These 16 acres at the World trade Center is a tribute to the lost lives and a place to build faith for the future lives. But there is another thing that I related to seeing this, the endless tears in the Museum, tears that tried to comfort and fill the void that this tragedy had created.

"Sustain" is what is also conveyed by the memorial. Not only does The Memorial has the ability to sustain all by itself, but it is also capable to provide sustenance to adjacent green spaces - Liberty park, Battery park, City Hall park and the nearby Churchyards. In the park are Swamp White Oak trees selected for their durability and leaf color. Which means all round the year the park will provide comfort with its colors and provide warmth with its shade. Indeed a constant reminder of the lives cherished through the life exhibited by these trees.

The memorial conveyed what the heart felt. Tears that flowed endlessly to fill a void and a void that can never be filled. But the other message that was also conveyed is "The Ability to Rise after a Fall".

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall."  ~Confucious

9/11 has unified the countries across the globe. As a citizen of the world, a life free from terror is something that I pledge for our future generations.