ground zero

They are re-building the World Trade Centre.
And also they are building a memorial scheduled
to open on the tenth anniversary of 9/11 (September 11 this year).

Seems like a crazy idea to me.

I'm not sure why they are six storeys less than the original towers.

If you look up, there is an obvious gap in the skyline where all the towers lean in guarding over some sacred space. But the space is occupied by cranes and orange plastic tape, so it is not truly empty. Or sacred.

On a sunny day with people walking back and forth and the hum of machinery it is hard to believe that such tragic events took place, though it was a long time ago.

There is a fire station right across the road.

One of the new towers under construction is reflected in a puddle which runs into a grill, my shadow adds to the palette of grey.

I was nine when the twin towers collapsed. 13 days before my tenth birthday. I heard about it all day over and over and got really pissed off that no-one would shut up about this event. I got sick of people asking me, "did you hear?", "have you heard?" YES I KNOW ALREADY. EVERYONE KNOWS. As if they has some exclusive news that no-one else could inform me of but them. Then I got home and saw the footage on TV and actually understood what had happened. And I felt small and silly.

Someone told me 7,000 people had died, but it was actually 2,753 plus the 19 hijackers.

In the aftermath of 9/11 a Sikh man was murdered. His murderer assumed he was a Muslim, because of his turban. Other people have died from illness attributed to toxic dust from the wreckage of the burning buildings. In the twelve months after the attacks, the road death toll increased by 1,500.

I was looking through a book at the memorial centre and there was a photograph of a leg on the ground. Just a leg. No body attached. Also photos of bodies in motion, self-hurled down the side of the building. Pretty crazy feeling, in these moments, viewing these photographs.

Strange, strange world we live in.