Around town, a sense of rebirth is taking shape. WTC 7 is slowly starting to appear over the skyline, renewing our sense of shared hope and attempting to fill some of the hole in our hearts. Everywhere around ground zero and around the city, we hope for a new rebirth.
Last week, I was at ground zero and, as seems to be the case for the last three years, chills ran down my spine. Then they subsided, replaced by a deep sadness as I saw a group of tourists pointing at the grounds and laughing. I don’t know what they were talking about but I felt very sad, left with the emptiness that only comes from the fact that most people outside New York do not understand how this hole is no laughing matter. When tourists come, they fail to realize that these grounds are a mass grave, where three thousands people died. I still don’t know why they were laughing but I still feel sad. I hope their laughter was based on the promise of a better day but still I feel sad.
Today is a day of pause. Today is a day of hope.
Today is the day we mourn. Today is a day of rebirth.
Today is the day it ended for many. Today is the day it starts for the rest of us.
“I have learned two lessons in my life: first, there are no sufficient literary, psychological, or historical answers to human tragedy, only moral ones. Second, just as despair can come to one another only from other human beings, hope, too, can be given to one only by other human beings.” – Elie Wiesel