Ground Zero

I could have written about each 9/11 victim every single day and it would have taken me more than eight years to cover them all. I thought about that 14 years ago, and I thought about it again last week when I visited Ground Zero. The number of victims, 2,983, still seems mind boggling and I commend the planners and architects who built the 9/11 Memorial. The deceptively simple design manages to honor each one. Two, acre-long reflecting pools rimmed in bronze panels feature each name. Giant waterfalls anchor the ends and throughout the plaza, life affirming trees grow. I can’t say for sure that Leonard Pitts’ Pulitzer Prize winning column, written the day after the 9/11 attack, inspired the planners of this magnificent space, but I can say that those words echoed through my head as I made my way through. As Americans we will weep, as Americans we will mourn, and as Americans, we will rise in defense of all that we cherish. One World Trade Center does rise, triumphantly. Its 104 stories make it the tallest building in the world. Beneath it families, tour groups, idling business people mingle under rising shade trees. Metaphorically, construction continues of the site. The healing goes on.