{"id":10,"date":"2012-09-12T08:34:36","date_gmt":"2012-09-12T08:34:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/robertacruger.com\/?p=10"},"modified":"2012-09-12T08:34:36","modified_gmt":"2012-09-12T08:34:36","slug":"taking-brians-photo-at-the-911-memorial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertacruger.com\/?p=10","title":{"rendered":"Taking Brian’s Photo at the 9\/11 Memorial"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

“Would you take my photo\u00a0here?”\u00a0an Irish voice\u00a0asked as I\u00a0stood\u00a0looking into the black abyss in the footprint of the South\u00a0Tower, quietly paying my respects to those who’d perished.\u00a0I gladly snapped the redheaded man’s image with the\u00a0serene waterfall\u00a0behind him. The simple black fountain impressive, the expanse across the footprint of the towers powerful. The new\u00a0buildings climbed above, offering a new life to the World Trade Center plaza.<\/p>\n

He took a look at the\u00a0photo and handed me back his camera. “Would you please include the\u00a0name of Brian in the picture?”\u00a0he asked, placing his hand near the\u00a0engraved name\u00a0on the brass plaque.<\/p>\n

My heart sank.\u00a0“I’m sorry. Is he someone you knew?” I tentatively asked.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

“Oh, no. It’s my name!” he explained with a smile. “There are a lot of Irish names here.”<\/p>\n

We spoke of all the\u00a0Irish immigrants who became policeman and fireman. I mentioned my grandparents and my mother’s father who helped build New York City’s subways. Soon we were discussing politics and the situation in Northern Ireland where he hailed from. “If you can resolve your conflict, there’s hope for anyone,” I suggested. He spoke\u00a0of the finer points to the clashing Catholics and Protestants, the history and the current situation. As the waters flowed next to us, I thought what better discussion to have on this hallowed ground.<\/p>\n

“You got this right,” said Brian, gesturing to the\u00a09\/11 Memorial<\/a> site.<\/p>\n

I was moved. Choked up, we both paused\u00a0looking over the solemn and beautiful memorial and the\u00a0visitors touching the names in reverence.\u00a0Brian left to return to\u00a0a nearby hotel, where he’d left his wife and children, who hadn’t care to come with him.\u00a0I recalled\u00a0all the times I visited the World Trade Towers–trips to the observation deck with my brother and his kids during a wild storm, on the rooftop with a Port Authority engineer, dinner at the Windows on the World, a reception for MTV’s gold record for Adam Ant. The bicentennial, the Tall Ships, and the quiet floating feeling at the top of more than 100 floors, where\u00a0the Twin Towers managed to dwarf Manhattan.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The Survivor Tree shows new branches.<\/p><\/div>\n

Overwhelmed, I touched The Survivor Tree, marveling at its new growth, limbs full of bright green leaves.\u00a0 I agree with Brian–they got it right. When\u00a0the surrounding construction ends and the new shiny\u00a0towers\u00a0and museum\u00a0opens, these two black\u00a0holes filling with cascading water\u00a0will remain as a fitting\u00a0reminder.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Would you take my photo\u00a0here?”\u00a0an Irish voice\u00a0asked as I\u00a0stood\u00a0looking into the black abyss in the footprint of the South\u00a0Tower, quietly paying my respects to those who’d perished.\u00a0I gladly snapped the redheaded man’s image with the\u00a0serene waterfall\u00a0behind him. The simple black … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6,4],"tags":[11,12,9,23],"class_list":["post-10","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art-and-design","category-travel","tag-911-memorial","tag-irish","tag-new-york-city","tag-world-trade-center"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paF1nb-a","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertacruger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertacruger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertacruger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertacruger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertacruger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/robertacruger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94,"href":"https:\/\/robertacruger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10\/revisions\/94"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertacruger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertacruger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertacruger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}