I used to work across the street from the WTC.
The downtown area is still very heavily secured, with NYC's finest blocking at least 2 blocks from where the twins stood proud and tall. My coworker and I was escorted by the police and was driven in a golf cart like vehical to where we used to work. While going towards the building, my senses were overloaded with the clanging of construction cranes working, smells of faint smoke, and my eyes and throat were stinging from the dust. Not sure how to describe this, but seeing the rubble first hand brought back all the images and memories from a little more that day a month ago.
I will be thankful for being a little bit late to work that day. If I had caught the train before mine, I would have probably been walking to work around the time the second plane hit. Instead, when I got to my destination, I couldn't even go in the direction of work because of the people fleeing. I did the 'smart' thing and fleed with them. My coworker, who went in on time, and witnessed the entire chain of events (people throwing themselves out the window, the towers collapsing, and being covered from head to toe in crap), was a bit shaken and tried to avoid looking towards that direction as much as possible.
For lack of better terms, it will NEVER be the same downtown. For me, I worked downtown for as long as I can remember, and walking through the towers to work was as routine as me tying my shoelace whenever it was undone. My mom's friend's son worked in the WTC. God damn it, it was his second day on the job and he just graduated college. He was 21.
My sadness quickly turns into anger and feelings of helplessness. For the incredible loss of life, especially for the recue workers who gave the ultimate sacrifice, only to become victims themselves. This is a pessimistic outlook, but I cannot see how anybody can be alive in that rubble. This rubble is stacked so high and spans the entire area.
For those wondering, I was in the area because I had to retrieve business and personal items from my workplace in my desk. Security to enter the area was still tight, as I had to show my company ID, business card, and a state/government issued ID. On a lesser note, my personal laptop and digital camera was missing. :| Not that happy about it, but always very thankful that my friends, family, and co-workers still alive. Sorry to break the forum rules, but if I had my camera, I would post pictures; although no picture will ever fully show this act of complete evil.
The downtown area is still very heavily secured, with NYC's finest blocking at least 2 blocks from where the twins stood proud and tall. My coworker and I was escorted by the police and was driven in a golf cart like vehical to where we used to work. While going towards the building, my senses were overloaded with the clanging of construction cranes working, smells of faint smoke, and my eyes and throat were stinging from the dust. Not sure how to describe this, but seeing the rubble first hand brought back all the images and memories from a little more that day a month ago.
I will be thankful for being a little bit late to work that day. If I had caught the train before mine, I would have probably been walking to work around the time the second plane hit. Instead, when I got to my destination, I couldn't even go in the direction of work because of the people fleeing. I did the 'smart' thing and fleed with them. My coworker, who went in on time, and witnessed the entire chain of events (people throwing themselves out the window, the towers collapsing, and being covered from head to toe in crap), was a bit shaken and tried to avoid looking towards that direction as much as possible.
For lack of better terms, it will NEVER be the same downtown. For me, I worked downtown for as long as I can remember, and walking through the towers to work was as routine as me tying my shoelace whenever it was undone. My mom's friend's son worked in the WTC. God damn it, it was his second day on the job and he just graduated college. He was 21.
My sadness quickly turns into anger and feelings of helplessness. For the incredible loss of life, especially for the recue workers who gave the ultimate sacrifice, only to become victims themselves. This is a pessimistic outlook, but I cannot see how anybody can be alive in that rubble. This rubble is stacked so high and spans the entire area.
For those wondering, I was in the area because I had to retrieve business and personal items from my workplace in my desk. Security to enter the area was still tight, as I had to show my company ID, business card, and a state/government issued ID. On a lesser note, my personal laptop and digital camera was missing. :| Not that happy about it, but always very thankful that my friends, family, and co-workers still alive. Sorry to break the forum rules, but if I had my camera, I would post pictures; although no picture will ever fully show this act of complete evil.
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