September 11, 2001 was a significant day in my life. And, even without social media (as we know it at the time), I felt connected somehow to the events in New York City. I saw the people walking across the Queensboro Bridge trying to get home. At the beginning of last week's podcast, I shared what happened to me on 9/11/01. Back in 2008, I wrote this blog post about it, and even sparked a video response below from our pal Crzegrl.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I was in New York City last week with my family. The one place I was both most anxious about and most looking forward to was the National September 11 Memorial at the World Trade Center site.
As you approach the entrance to the memorial, you cannot help but look up and see Freedom Tower, or as they refer to it now, One World Trade Center. It's an eerie feeling I had when entering the site. The first thing you notice is the many security check points that you have to go through before entering the memorial plaza. The second thing you notice is that even with all these people around you, the silence is deafening.
As you enter the memorial plaza, the South Memorial Pool is in front of you. I've seen it on television, but you do not have a gauge of the size of the pool until you physically walk around it. In addition, the sound of the waterfalls of the pool is so loud, that it drowns out the city noises and the people talking around the pool. As you look up from the pool, you see Freedom Tower, and the emotion overcomes you.
As I walked around the rest of the memorial plaza, I saw young children being talked to by their parents and grandparents about what happened here. In addition, on some of the names, I saw one flower placed in the letters of the name. This made me think of all the families affected. I shared my experience in real time on twitter. My tweets are at the bottom of this post.
In the video above, you see and hear the segment from last week's podcast where I share my experience at the National September 11 Memorial. You can check out the entire audio podcast in the player above, and you can download the episode here. Never Forget the events that happened on September 11, 2001....