9/11: Windows on the World September 11
Someday, somewhere
we’ll find a new way of living
we’ll find a new way of forgiving..Theres a place for us
A time and a place for us
Hold my hand and were half way there
Just hold my hand and Ill take you there
Somehow…
Someday, somewhere…
-Barbara Streisand, 1985
If I could have been anywhere in the world tonight, it would have been at the greatest bar on earth, Windows on the World, in the rebuilt Twin Towers in Lower Manhattan, in the company of friends from work and play among them lawyers, bankers, secretaries, paralegals, construction workers, cops and fireman, New Yorkers all of us. We would be sipping cocktails looking out over the metropolis from the highest vantage point in New York City toasting the resilience of New Yorkers. 8 years later we finally did it. New York was back. We forged ahead and rebuilt bigger, better and stronger, not by forgetting the past or disrespecting those that lost their lives on September 11, 2001, but also not in fear of an uncertain future.
While I support a National Day of Service and Remembrance, the annual ceremony of remembrance with its reading of all the 2,752 names of those that died that day, has become somewhat of a morose and macabre ritual that in my estimation takes advantage of the emotions and fears of all Americans. We dare not question this ritual lest our patriotism be called into question or even worse our sensitivity and respect towards our fallen fellow citizens. This day should always serve as a reminder that there are still many broken hearts, lives forever changed, children without parents, brothers without sisters, wives without their husbands, sons and daughters taken from their parents, friends and lovers. Unfulfilled promise and dreams snuffed out too soon, for no damn good reason. Innocent people were needlessly murdered on 9/11. The only mistake that these 2,752 people made on September 11, 2001 was showing up for work that day, not knowing that they would become a statistic, that they would suffer torture of burning flames, some forced to leap to their death to avoid being cooked alive. It is tragic, painful but I do not believe that we are advancing the cause of freedom, democracy or honoring the deceased by these annual rituals from what remains largely a hole in the ground 8 years later. The Tribute in Light as beautiful as it may be, is not substitute for hard choices and the actions which should have been taken by our leaders, years ago.
ENOUGH ALREADY, REBUILD THE TWIN TOWERS…bigger, better, stronger and bolder!! Eight years later there is still a hole in the soul of New York City that will never be filled by what amounts to an annual funeral. 9/11 is not a photo op to promote the political agenda of any politician or political party, even if at times it seems to have become a cottage industry used by many faux patriots to extend their brand and their grasp over constituents. New York has been sitting shiva for eight long years. The Jewish people only sit shiva for 7 days. Grandiose websites, press releases and plans outlined on the web do not take away the sadness I feel every time I pass the World Trade Center site.
The rebuilding of the Twin Towers is a moral imperative. The Towers lent an iconic status to New York City symbolizing its preminent stature as the global center of free market commerce, freedom and democracy. A civilized and forward moving society does not cower in the face of challenge but instead rebuilds in a bigger, better & bolder fashion. That would be the greatest tribute and honor to those who died on 9/11, those who built this great city and a lesson for generations to come. Some say that this is a different era, that presents an opportunity in urban planning to redesign in a futuristic fashion a valuable section of real estate in Lower Manhattan. Ok maybe so, but then still why can’t we just build two building?! As a New Yorker by birth, one who has long had a romantic attachment to the supreme elegance and stature of Lower Manhattan, it breaks my heart to the point of tears to see New York be any less than it once was and what it forever promised to be. If the Golden Gate Bridge was the target, would we have built a footwalk and provided row boats to those who wished to cross across the San Francisco Bay? NO, we would have built an even stronger and better bridge. So, why do we do what amounts to less here in New York? Anyone who has any sense of the history of Lower Manhattan and the history of the United States of America recognizes that it was always destined to be one of the most beautiful and historic urban centers in the world. It is our duty to insure it maintain’s that status, even if our leaders do not have the foresight, vision or cajones to do the right thing. Just building nice, pleasant, modern buildings in the place of the Twin Towers will never fill the void in New York or in my heart.
If you examine the world through the eyes (window) of the soul of the American people, you would find that the citizens are restless, distrustful, worried about the state of the economy, many confused still by why the findings of the 9/11 Commission which obfuscated and undermined the truth rather than clarified it for the American people is considered by some to be sufficient. Why is anything less than the ground truth allowed to stand as the final public record? On this day of remembrance, we honor all Americans who died on 9/11 or in the battles fought in the name of 9/11 by remaining vigilant engaged citizens in the search for truth. That is how I choose to pay my respects to those who through no fault of their own tragically lost their lives and left behind friends, family and co-workers. September 11th is not a photo op to promote the political agenda of any politician or political party or to burnish their patriotic credentials, by standing along side the families of the fallen. The fact that it is should cause all thinking Americans to pause.
No wonder then that the 9/11 Truth Movement has itself become a cottage industry and is gaining steam despite mainstream media efforts to ignore and play down its existence and portray it as something exclusively involving unhinged radicals. Not rebuilding the Twin Towers unfortunately sends the wrong message. It only lends credence to the arguments that American leadership is once again ignoring the will of the people. Newsflash: The City of New York Concedes 9/11 Coalition Has 30,000 Valid Signatures To Put Referendum For 9/11 Investigation on November Ballot.
Rebuilding the Twin Towers seems to me the only way to repair the American psyche, improve the dialogue, make our discourse more civil, get the American people, business leaders and the government moving in the same direction again towards a higher purpose, looking forward with a sense of excitement instead of looking back. We are 0-2 between the failure of the 9/11 Commission and ignoring the will of the people to rebuild the Twin Towers. It’s time to change course and lift the spirit of this city and this nation.