So Is Life

I didn't write a post about 9/11 on 9/11 because I had studio all day and I wasn't in a mindset to really give it some attention, which it deserves. Ironically, we had our first acting class that day and our assignment (that was due today) was to go to the memorial. So I went late yesterday afternoon with some classmates. It's a very peculiar experience because while I consider myself a New Yorker now, I certainly wasn't then. I didn't even understand what was going on. But it something that is a permanent part of my city's history, and therefore, it's a part of mine.

You have to make a reservation to see the memorial so we had about 45 minutes to kill before our time slot. We went to St. Pauls, a beautiful historic church in the heart of the bustling Financial District. The church served as a sort of base camp in the days after 9/11 and now is a shrine to the whole event.

{the top of the steeple is visible from five blocks away. the church literally sits on this island, with streets all around.}

{various relics. it's pretty overwhelming}

 From there, we made our way to the memorial. You have to walk a good eight blocks away from where the site actually is to get in. Then you have to go through security, almost exactly like the airport, to get in line again to walk in.

{the South pool}

{a rose nestled in the "Survivor Tree", the only tree that survived the attack}

{the Freedom Tower is almost complete and rises above the whole scene}

 I could have taken a hundred pictures, but out of respect I tried not to go too clicker crazy. Was shocked me was how cavalier some people were. You could definitely tell the New Yorkers from the tourists for the most part. People were laughing and snapping couple pictures by the pools, like they were at Six Flags or something. I guess that I expected it to be somber, seeing as it was September 12th, only a day after the 11 year anniversary. 

The moment when you stand by those pools though and really look is pretty powerful. Your whole face feels like it's under pressure, being sucked in towards some cavernous force that you can't see but you feel and you hear. It's definitely pretty ghostly.

We made a pit stop by Battery Park to look at the Harbor and it was a pretty incredible moment for me to reflect. As I left St. Paul's earlier, I heard a man talking to his family about 9/11 and the phrase that I caught was "So Is Life."

And so it is. There is so much that is out of our hands, things we can't even fathom. But that's how it is and all we can do is roll with the punches and live where we are. And really live, and really listen. Or we're gonna miss something.