Stepping Lightly: 9/11 Memorial Museum

Wall of Photos at 9/11 Memorial Museum

I sometimes wake up in the early morning hours in panic burdened with a semiconscious premonition that something awful has happened in the world….maybe stemming from being a 24/7 intensive care doctor for three decades. This one morning, my fear was realized. It was 4AM Hawaii Time on September 11^th, 2001, and for some reason, which still eludes me, I turned on the TV.

Then with the rest of the world watching, we witnessed the surreal events of 9/11. I missed Act 1, but the aftermath of the ill fated plane smashing into the North Tower of the World Trade Center was just as shocking with large plumes of smoke shooting wildly in every direction, blazing out of control. Rapidly, a thick hailstorm of grey soot blanketed the sky, replacing the sea of clear blue sky of the bight early morning day. Each particle of rubble represented a fragment from the trade center, or its internal furnishings, or a bit of human charred beyond recognition.

To everyone’s amazement, the drama and devastation did not end until the South Tower was targeted, followed by both towers imploding, and crumbling to the ground. Everything seemed to occur in slow motion including the movement of the second plane’s inexorable path crashing into and partially through the south tower, the resultant firestorm, the mayhem, the massive tower implosions and the arresting smokescreen. We sat there paralyzed with mouths gaping not believing what we were seeing.

The day had begun full of life and hope and color and ended, grey and opaque and dark, and obscure and final. The transformation of that day reflected a symbolism and significance of what had happened. America had changed forever; nearly 3000 lives were lost in the most tragic terrorist event ever occurring on US soil. The memory of this event would last forever, and the US government would rise to the occasion to fiercely protect its citizens from future incursions and terror plots. Or would it?????

From this day was born the substrate for the 9/11 Memorial Museum in NYC. I won’t bore you with a longwinded description of its contents. We purchased a VIP entrance and one hour tour. The price was worth not having to wait in the long line to gain entrance. The one hour guided tour was excellent, provided by a young woman who was probably 7 or 8 in 2001. Nevertheless, she was fluid and articulate and made the experience all the more meaningful.

This is a fabulously huge museum with its footprint etched on the original sight of the world trade center. It emphasizes both the structural transformations as well as the personal stories of those who died on that tragic day. I highly recommend it to EVERY AMERICAN including our US government leaders. We spent only two hours there because we were tired. We should have spent at least four.

We Americans need to relive this tragedy in order to maintain the importance of 9/11 on our collective conscience. We cannot allow our senses to be dulled by time, or by some progressive, infectious fad that voices objections and decries accusations of racism whenever anyone tells the truth or voices an unpopular opinion.

We need our world leaders to be consistent and strong to protect Americans. We have not been protected by this administration. America will sink deeper into harms way in its present course. This I believe is the consensus of what Americans believe. I say this for myself, my children, my children’s children and those yet to be born. We cannot sit still passively awaiting the next tragedy to occur. However, I fear this is exactly what will happen unless we take command of our fate.

The 9/11 Memorial Museum is a must, a civic duty, an obligation that we must all experience. There is nothing more to say………….