So much can happen in 24 years. So much can happen in a moment.
For me, time is starting to blur. The day itself, 11 September 2001, remains crystal clear—and it probably always will. I remember, like yesterday, my feelings and the surge of neurotransmitters—those helpful brain chemicals which heighten awareness, quicken response time, and prepare one for a "fight or flight." And, yet, how can 24 years have passed since that day? So much has happened; so much has changed. Friends and family have been born. Friends and family have died. Democracy has rallied. Democracy has flagged. Hope has flourished. Hope has been dashed.
For the last 23 years, on this day, I have posted images of the original World Trade Center towers. And, each year, I would lament how I wish I had better-appreciated their style, strength and noble simplicity while they still stood proud. While I can be critical of Modernist architecture, Manhattan's Twin Towers were a bold stroke, standing audaciously at the tip of the center of the world. Bravo!
Shown above, a photo of the "new" Lower Manhattan, shot from the window of our car as we approached the Holland Tunnel. At center, towering above its neighbors, stands the new World Trade Center building. And (yes) it's Modern—though I like it, nevertheless. I like its simplicity. I like its "chamfered" silhouette. And I like the fact that the very (tippy) top of the building is a nod to the original World Trade Center tower. Might "the powers that be" ever deliver this tower's identical twin? That would be the coda that makes this resurrection complete.