Tribute Center Sheds Light for Post-9/11 New Yorkers

It’s the firsthand accounts that pull at my heartstrings. It was the firsthand accounts at Yad Vashem, Jerusalem’s spectacular Holocaust memorial, and it was the firsthand accounts at Ground Zero. In fact, sixteen firsthand accounts played from my audio set, into my ears, through my brain and sat like a lump of coal in my chest, as I stood immersed in the dreadful morning and the subsequent months of September 11, 2001.

The weather had been cool, sunny and perfectly clear, the perfect day for sure. Ironically, it looked exactly the same eight and a half years later as I stood with my classmates at the site of what was once one of the world’s greatest architectural feats. For $10 each, we walked along an hour-long guided audio tour of The World Trade Center site. As we stared out the windows, as if watching the atrocities of that day unfold, survivors shared their stories of escape, loss and overwhelming grief. Fathers spoke of their lost sons, widows solemnly told stories of their late husbands and their fearful children. And all the while, the bright sunny day seemed to metaphorically cloud over in our heads.

We were later accompanied by John Henderson, a computer systems manager at NYU who has volunteered with The Tribute Center since late 2005. While he was not directly affected by the horrors of 9/11, as a New Yorker, he felt he could help by offering his time to inform the multitude of tourists that visit the site—more than 1 billion to date.

But as informative and easy-going as Henderson was, he was very open about how seriously and personally he takes “mass casualties,” and how upset he is that so many of them are easily forgotten.

“Horrific events take place, but we move on very quickly,” Henderson said. “We as New Yorkers sweep everything under a rug and move on.”

So I wondered, as a three-year New York resident, have I also forgotten the dangers of living in this city? While I’d visited the sight before moving to Manhattan, and even casually since, most of my peers had never been—and we all live in blissful ignorance in post-9/11 New York.

But should I be more aware? More afraid? If I look back to the attacks, should I feel so safe in my daily life? I work in the heart of Times Square—the epicenter of consumerism—in one of the largest magazine corporations in the nation—in many ways the publisher of these ideals. I also happen to attend one of the most liberal universities in the world. Every day, I make my way through crowded streets, heading down into the subway and up in elevators as high as the 38^th floor.

While I’m definitely working in a hot zone—is it a ticking clock? Are we all just naively playing with matches, hoping we won’t be burned?

This may be true, but I also know, as a result of my Jewish and American upbringing, especially after visits to countless Holocaust and American military memorials, that we must continue to live, if anything in honor of those who no longer can. But just as importantly, we must never forget. We must never forget the unthinkable horrors man is capable of imposing on one another, but we cannot live our lives in fear. We must find a happy balance between optimism and reminiscence, and never take for granted our safety, our health and the ones we love.

If you haven’t been yet, I suggest you also visit The Tribute Center, located at 120 Liberty Street, in the heart of the Financial District.