Journeys of the Questress - WTC
May We Never Forget
Home
The Way it Was - 1
The Way it Was - 2
Sept 19 - When Tomorrow Never Comes
Sept 27 - Oral Interpretation
Oct 5 - A Mile of Tears - Part 1
Oct 5 - A Mile of Tears - Part 2
Oct 5 - A Mile of Tears - Part 3
Oct 11 - Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
Oct 28 - Each Day I Search the Rubble
Nov 12 - When Spires Fall
Nov 19 - 911 The Rape of America
Dec 14 - Just A Thought
Dec 18 - A Sense of Place
Feb 2 - Final Pass to the End Zone
March 3 - Sitting on the Edge
March 14- Do You Still Remember
March 20 - Virtual Walk-Through
March 25 - When Will It End - Part 1
March 25 - When Will It End - Part 2
April 1 - Towers of Light
May 14 - View From Above
May 30 - Tunnel At the End of the Light
May 31 - Seventeen Hundred
Aug 9 - From the Margins Erased
Aug 30 - The Train Doesn't Stop There Anymore
Sept 9 - Ceremonies of Light and Dark
Sept 10 - Just An Anniversary
Sept 12 - September Holds Great Promise
Literary Reflections
Rebirth and Resurrection
The Winter Garden Springs To Life
The Winter Garden Springs To Life - con't
Underpass to the Past
Rebuilding Ground Zero
Under Hallowed Ground
Borders
Yahrzeit
What Will Fill the Void?
I Submit a Design
Footprints in the Dust
My Memorial Design Submission
My Memorial Design - Drawings
New Path Train Station
Path Station Tour
May We Never Forget
That Which Surives
War Without End
4th Anniversary
Footprints in the Dust
Void
I Miss 9/11
Time Comes Between Us
A Thousand Cranes
Fear Factor
Love Letters On The Wall
Empty Chairs
Sitting on the Edge of Forever
Walking the Perimeter of Emptiness
A Counting of Days
For Friends Absent But Not Forgotten
Stigmata
The Memory Keeper's Promise
Unbreak My Heart
Standing On The Edge Of Forever
Both Sides Now
A Memory In Time
The Gravity of Loss
The Survivors Rise Up
Flowers Will Bloom
The Fire Within Us
The Sentinel
Stronger Than The Storm
Between the Candle and the Stars
Ghosts
A Journey Through Remembrance
Canticle of Remembrance
Beyond the Crucible of Chaos
Journey Through Remembrance project
What See We Now
Forever In Our Hearts
Keeping the Flame Alive
The Rebuilding of Ground Zero continues
Does Anyone Care Anymore?
Where Is Our Story Teller of Pain
At Memory's Edge
Dust Thou Art and to Dust Thou Shalt Return
7x7x70
Heroes Never Die
The Flame Inside Our Hearts
The Year of the Heroes of 9/11
Déjà Vu
Remembering 9/11 in the year of COVID-19
Coronavirus Decimates Ailing Sept. 11 Responders
Touching From a Distance
That Which Survives 20 years later
2021 - 20 years later
Memories of Terror Return
Putin's Name Covered Over On Teardrop Memorial
The 9/11 Tribute Museum Closes
When Memories Fade Away
St. Nicholas at Ground Z is rebuilt
The Blue Wall of the Unidentified Victims
When Time Calls Your Name
When Art Gets It All Wrong

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May We Never Forget
The third anniversary of 9/11 is just around the corner. As the weeks ticked down our nation was preoccupied with a Republican convention, protecting NYC from terrorism at that convention, the ongoing war in Iraq with its continuing loss of lives, and a political scandal where the Governor of New Jersey has resigned. With all this "noise" bombarding us, will we be in any frame of mind
on September 11, 2004 to stop and remember a dark event centering around terrorists and death? Or will we give lip service to emotions, now long dulled by the continued onslaught of "orange" alerts and soldiers dieing, spending just one moment on Patriots Day to remember 2001's great loss?
 
Indeed, we as a nation, must move on. The third anniversary cannot and should not be as hurting as the first one. We've shed our tears, dealt with our grief, put the event into perspective. But is it too much to ask for one day, THE DAY, to be remembered with more than a passing nod? Or will we just hold a few, quick services, show one or two television specials, do less on that day then on Martin Luther King Day, or St. Patrick's Day?
 
9/11 hasn't been a big media occurrence in the last year. Other than reporting that once again commuters could travel to the WTC area via a new PATH train station, dedication of the Freedom tower (first building to be built at Ground Zero) ground breaking on July 4th and the recent hoopla over the 9/11 Commission's findings, not much more has been seen as news worthy. That is the problem: if it isn't splashy, controversial, or threatening, the media don't find it interesting for a story.
 
The 9/11 Commission - hindsight and foresight
 
When the 9/11 Commission finally published their report, the media chose to focus on only a few specific points. The entire report is hundreds of pages in length and deals with every dimension of Al Qaeda's involvement. It presents a comprehensive background of Islamic terrorist activities from the early 1990s up to 9/11 and how we were sidetracked into believing the threat to America
resided elsewhere then on our home shores. We heard reports about our government being unable to "connect the dots," but the report makes clear that there were so many aspects to the ongoing threats, finger pointing is just negative hindsight. 
 
The Executive Summary is only 36 pages long and does a good job of summarizing the lengthy report. You can find it at http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/ Many points are a sad read, to see the reality of what was going on right under our noses. This report has now, too become a part of our 9/11 history. It presents many, many good points and suggestions. And the 10 people who were part of the commission also feel that there is value in never forgetting what that Black Tuesday was like. They end the summary with "We call on the American people to remember how we all felt on 9/11, to remember not only the unspeakable horror but how we came together as a nation - one nation. Unity of purpose and unity of effort are the way we will defeat this enemy and make America safer for our children and grandchildren." (p 26 Executive Summary of the 9/11 Commission, 2004)
 
The Twin Towers live on
 
The Twin Towers themselves have become ghosts. Even though 3 years have passed since they were pulverized, images of the Twin Towers continue to appear everywhere! No other building, no other human built object (other than the cross that represents the Christian Jesus' crucifixion) displays itself in more places for so many reasons. They are on postcards in stores in NYC, in business logos with a skyline that is now outdated, on the arm patches of the NYC firefighters, and in stores selling souvenirs with their physical likeness replicated in various materials from glass to plastic.
 
They live on not just in items you can find in NYC but in movies made prior to 2001. They also stand tall in the skyline of print. Do you have some old magazines in your house? Leaf through them and the Towers will pop up in advertisements and logos. Look through art books and you will see numerous artists have featured them as part of their work. The most unnerving and extensive place where you can find them is driving down any highway. From large to small, decals and bumper stickers with the images of the Twin Towers adorn thousands of cars all across our nation. I just wonder if the cars' owners still feel anything in relation to 9/11 or the images are just a leftover from a patriotic moment now long forgotten.
 
Tour Guide to Ground Zero
 
The most heartbreaking way to remember 9/11 is to take a PATH Train ride from New Jersey to lower Manhattan. Each day tens of thousands of commuters are reminded of the tragedy. As the train comes out of the tunnel, the first thing you see is the slurry wall. Then you notice the empty space of the Pit as the train circles around, crossing over the footprint of the South Tower. Every time I travel to lower Manhattan, I make sure I'm in the first car of the train. On numerous occasions, I have talked with tourists, alerting them  to what they will see. It gives me an eerie feeling that I have become a sort of tour guide to Ground Zero!  For a description of this trip...
 
The 9/11 Year
 
After last year's less than spectacular anniversary day, I felt the need to do something that would have a permanence of more than a website to help people remember 9/11. With the motto in mind "Let us never forget" I decided to publish a book. For the last 11 months I have worked on a self-published, hand bound, signed, limited edition of a collection of my essays and poems from the year after 9/11. Reading through all my works (the book contains works from this website and others that have not been posted), brought back the memories of that horrible year. As I read each work, I could recall exactly where I was and what inspired it. For more information about the book,
 
So where were you when the world stood still? Will you take more than a few minutes to remember that day? I hope you don't feel it's an event that should be packaged away and only mentioned in history books. Those who lost their lives on that day deserve more.