9-11 No Typical Day

As my sister and I get on the PATH in Hoboken, New Jersey, I am overcome by the stench of hundreds of people in close proximity. It is mid July and we are on the early morning commuter subway which travels under the Hudson River and ends in the basement of the World Trade Center. I am trying to act like I do this every day but failing miserably in the attempt. This is my first trip to The City.

We go to a ticket window and purchase two tickets that will allow us on the elevator which takes sightseers to the top of the south tower of the World Trade Center. On the 107th we look out the windows to look our over parts of Manhattan. We find the elevator that will take us the final 3 floors to the roof. This is the one requiring our tickets.

As hazy as that day is, I am still thrilled by the experience. In one direction we can see the Empire State Building. In another we see the Hudson River. In another we see the New York Harbor.

Back down on the ground we walk around the WTC plaza. It is then that I get a real sense of how tall these buildings are. They seem to lean toward us as we stare up at them. (I had given up trying to look like I wasn’t a tourist.) I am in awe that man has built something so big and so tall.

The next day we take a ferry from Battery Park (located on the southern tip of Manhattan Island) to the Statue of Liberty. July 4th of that same year marked its 100th anniversary. The Statue was seeing renewed interest since its restoration earlier that year.

It has been 20 years since that trip. I have not since returned to that city of cities. But as the 5 year commemoration of 9-11 nears I ponder for a moment or two. September 11, 2001 began just like the day when my sister and I stepped off the Subway along with hundreds of commuters in the basement of the World Trade Center. There may have been a tourist or two who longed to see the view we saw from the top of the north tower. For the hundreds of commuters it was just another day of work.

But this would be no typical day.