Remembering 9/11

[Andy Nguyen]

In keeping with our tradition, every year we invite our members to share their thoughts and memories of a lost loved one, and where they were that day.

Everyone has a story to tell so share yours.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Watching NBC right now and the images still give me goose bump after 10 years.

 

[Andy D.]

I was working just outside of London at the time. I remember one of our co-workers walking out into the huddle that had gathered. She was talking about how her husband was on a call to colleagues in the US - in the WTC when the planes hit, and the line went dead.
Awful, awful day.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

 

[bob]

Nice picture, Andy. This is a lot like the view of the site that I have from my desk every day.

Of course we will not forget, but to me after 10 years it's fitting that the emphasis be on what's to come. I had only lived in NY for a few years when 9/11 happened, but my recollection of the WTC complex itself was that it seemed dropped, hulking and monolithic (or I guess you could say "duolithic" if that were a word) in the midst of lower Manhattan. It dominated the landscape in a way I don't, frankly, remember liking very much.

Even now, incomplete as it is (and long as it's taken to get to this point), the site is actually quite beautiful. It's breathtaking to catch a glimpse from the surrounding streets into the park at sunset, with the light caught on the great mirrors of the rising buildings. It brings space and greenery to an area that desperately needs it, and when finished I hope it will help connect what now seems a fragmented and, strangely, isolated area to the rest of the city. Despite the horror it recalls, it seems to me a fitting tribute to those who lost their lives there that, in reminding us of them, the site enriches the lives of those who now live and work nearby.