“Tell me, please, where did the twin towers formerly stand?” a girl with a strong Italian accent asked a New York policeman. The uniformed man looked at the foreigner with slight surprise, and then calmly pointed to the wooden fence they both stood nearby.
The girl’s confusion was completely understandable. When you get out of the subway at the World Trade Center station, the first thing that catches the eye is a huge unfinished skyscraper.
It is surrounded by a high wooden fence, with patches of a metal grid here and there and large banners that say “Visit the memorial museum to the victims of the September 11, 2001 tragedy at the 20th Street, Weasley,” and “The World Financial Center,” as well as the sign that invites you to move to the right. Tourists read the banners diligently and look to the right in search of the memorial.
The Ground Zero is the name that the Americans call the place where the twin towers once stood. It is always crowded, but on the eve of the 10th anniversary it was overcrowded. Tourists who were trying to take pictures of everything they saw were partly to blame, but they were greatly outnumbered by the Americans who came to pay tribute and show support to those who lost loved ones and friends.
“I came here to support the families of the deceased. So many people gathered together, this is a good sign, as it shows the unity of Americans. We are strong, because we are not to be broken, and we will not allow anybody to injure us,” says Richard Bailey, a fireman from New York. “Look around, there are many armed people here, there is tension, this is nothing like before when we had that feeling of absolute security. We Americans have reconsidered our attitude towards freedom: now we appreciate it more and understand that we must put up with searches at airports and other security measures, all for the sake of freedom.”
The city government provided venues for the remembrance events around the fenced-off building site, where the construction was still ongoing. Great white canvas with black and white portraits of the dead was drawn on a fence, and their relatives left touching messages on the fabric, like “With all the love. We miss you, Barry Conner,” “Find peace in God’s care. Our hearts miss you. We love you.” Similar inscriptions in English and Spanish covered the entire canvas.
“I wrote the name of a good friend who worked on the eighth floor of one of the towers,” says Inna Valencia. “Today I am here together with other Americans, to demonstrate our support, to show that we are united, we remember and love those who died there.”
Some charity workers put a tent in front of the canvas and collected donations. Each benefactor received a white-blue-red bouquet of flowers tied with the American flag-imprinted ribbon.
Recently, small museum about the new memorial and the tragedy itself has been opened two steps away from where the towers used to stand. It was overcrowded on the eve of the 10th anniversary. People slowly examined exhibits that included a victim’s police uniform, badges and personal effects that had been found on the site after the terror attack. While the museum is relatively small, consisting of one room only, it is quite informative, with numerous monitors installed that constantly show video about how the disaster happened and what the new memorial will look like.
It is difficult to overlook the old St. Paul Chapel in front of the museum. To commemorate the anniversary, the chapel organized an exhibition, too, that told the story of how the clerics helped the people affected by the attack. They distributed white ribbons with the inscription “Remember in order to love” at the entrance to the chapel. Everyone could add the name of a victim of the attack on the back of the ribbon and tie it to a metal fence nearby.
Only the victims’ survivors and officials, including president Barack Obama with his wife, former president George Bush and mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg were allowed to visit the memorial itself on the eve of the anniversary and on September 11 itself. People who pre-registered on the website and received their free tickets after winning the lottery were let in later on.
The memorial opened for public viewing on September 12.
With commemorative events ended, American press summed up what the American people and the wider world thought about the tragedy that happened 10 years ago. The underlying idea of all these opinion pieces was that the terror attacks had changed America. Skeptics are free to object to this conclusion, but police officers with rifles on every corner who do not surprise anybody anymore, while screening of bags and explosive-searching dogs are perceived more with gratitude than with resentment – all these facts are strong arguments in favor of the change. As Valencia said to me, “We Americans no longer take freedom for granted; we have begun to appreciate it more and are ready to make concessions for its survival. In addition, we have become more united as a nation.” Indeed, seeing Americans from other side of the country flying for five hours just to come to the Ground Zero and show their support for those who lost loved ones during the attacks convinced me that the people here have really changed.
