On September 11, 2001 I was sitting in my office when a fellow worker rushed in with the tragic news that the Towers had been destroyed! I was especially stunned because, exactly two weeks before, I had flown into New York to attend a meeting with federal law enforcement regarding an extensive fraud operation.
I vividly recall staring down at the Statue of Liberty as we approached Manhattan and giving the towers in the distance just a cursory glance as we headed up the East River to land at La Guardia. The meeting went well and I flew home the next day.
A few months or so later, I flew back. but was on the wrong side of the aircraft to see the damage. My driver into Manhattan was an elderly Jew and, of course, we discussed the event. He told me that he was born and raised in the Gaza area and as he grew up the family next door was Islamic and the families got along well and even cared for each other’s home if they were away. He was stumped at the level of hatred between the faiths today and couldn’t figure out why.
Once I was ensconced at the hotel, I had time before the meeting the next day and asked one of the desk clerks how to get to Ground Zero. The subway was just across the street from the hotel and he told me which stop I should get off. As I recall all these years later, it was a fairly short walk and when I arrived I was disappointed to discover that thirty-foot-high barriers surrounded the site.
There were stairs, every so far, but each one was guarded by an NYPD officer and access was restricted. I sweet-talked a female officer who let me go up briefly. I was overwhelmed at the size of the damaged area. On the subway back I just sat and stared at my hands.
There was dinner the next evening and one of the Secret Service agents and his wife sat at my table. Both were Jews and lived in the area. She told me a story which blew me away. Shortly after the Towers went down she was pregnant and had caught a cab to see her pediatrician downtown. This was shortly after the attack and the driver was listening to the news. When it was announced that the tragedy was caused by Islamists, he turned and looked at her and smiled! She demanded that he pull over and let her out and when he did she refused to pay him.
A few years after I had retired and moved to Arizona, my wife and I took a road trip with our granddaughter. One of the destinations was New York City and, obviously, Ground Zero. A former “up stater”, I‘ve always loved the city and wanted them to experience its wonders. Significant progress had been made in rehabilitation and my companions were as awed as I. While there, I purchased an NYPD hat which I wear almost daily decades later. Incidentally, you haven’t really driven until you’ve done so on the streets of Manhattan.
Now, Twenty-five years later, those experiences are just as vivid. The thousands who died that horrible day will always be remembered and it is difficult for me to accept that Islamists now control that magnificent city. I’m told that Mayor Mamdani will make an appearance at the site despite thousands of New Yorkers who have demanded that he not do so.
I was eight years old on my first visit to the Big Apple and I vividly remember my dad, who was there for a medical convention, squatting beside me as we stood at the base of the Empire State Building and asking doubtfully if I really wanted to “go up there”. I nodded enthusiastically and when we reached the observation deck some ninety floors up, he lifted me over the railing so I could look down. I had nightmares for weeks after word that I was falling and I remember him telling my mother, “Dammit, I knew I shouldn’t have taken that kid up there!” as they attempted to calm me after a nightmarish episode.
Paco
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