Schlagwort-Archive: traveling

traveling, USA

Me & NYC,

It’s sunday morning, and I am sitting in a coffee shop on Tompkin Square Park in New York’s East Village writing my first blog entry from abroad.

Actually, there’s not a lot to be said as of yet. Yesterday night, I drank my first beer out of a paper bag, in the middle of Williamsburg Brdige, with an amazing view on lower Manhatten and up the East River. Then there was this strange homeless person telling us for about 20 minutes about how he had figured the 911 events out – conspiracy theories are always funny. If I had a digital camera, I could regale you with his appearance, but I don’t, so you’ll have to wait. Drinking beer out of a bag was a must-do in the US, of course. I had not yet done that. I really wonder why I did not do that in 1998.

I haven’t been to Ground Zero yet, but I will certainly do that at some point. Life here seems so detached from the 911 events, I can hardly believe it. Two Australians I talked to yesterday told me they hardly noticed anything even last Wednesday. But there are tons of flags and postcards. All the street-painters now have cheesy WTC paintings on stock. All the fire vans feature a waving US flag now. But that’s it.

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traveling, USA

September 6, 1998,

is a day only very few people will be able to remember. I hardly could until I forced myself to. It was on that day, only three days after I first came to the United States, that I went up to the “Top of the World” as the visitor platform of the World Trade Centre was called. So far, I spent 36 hours in New York City and I did not see much of it yet (I will be there again this Friday). But I have seen the Twin Towers before they tumbled on that other, tragic day in September last year. This is a picture I took on September 6, 1998.

the twin towers

On September 11, 2001, I was luckily not anywhere close to the towers. But too many were. A lot has been said and written about how the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon have been the triggers for the creation of the unipolar new world order (quite literally) which we are witnessing. And a lot more needs to be said and written and done.

But today is not for words or deeds. Today is a day of silent remembrance of the terror inflicted on thousands of innocent people, mostly Americans. I am grateful I did not lose anyone I know personally. But too many people I know did lose someone. I can hardly imagine their pain. And whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.

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