ground zero--my experience

cash78mere · #1 03-29-2002, 12:01 AM

so today my best friend and i toured ground zero.

her dad is one of the top guys in bovis, the company cleaning up the site, and her 2 brothers work there as well, so we were allowed past the barriers. we got up close and personal.

all i can say is WHOA. it is unbelievable so up close. we stood at the top of the mound and her dad explained everything that was going on. they had just found a civilian this morning. it took us forever just to walk around it. it was an incredible and humbling experience.

then we ate lunch in the "taj mahal" as they call it. it is FILLED with banners and there are cards on each table from children and others. the workers are treated so nicely by the wonderful salvation army people. we had to clean off our clothes, hands and shoes before we could enter--i proceeded to soak my feet right through my sneakers!

i admire those workers. they work 12 hour shifts sometimes in the rain, cold, snow, etc...and they never complain. what an important job they have.

just thought i'd share this. i'll never forget it. it was so important to me that i get down there--i can't believe i was able to see all that i did. there's so much going through my brain that i don't even know what to write. keep all those workers in your prayers--they deserve all the help we can give

Finer Woman10-A-91 · #2 03-29-2002, 12:08 AM

On occasion I work down in the Financial District. Every time I go down there and see the memorial signage and the likes I get very teary. I attended a few memorials during the first few weeks following 9/11. The USA really has it good. Can you imagine the "ground zero" site being in your back and front yard?

Hootie · #3 03-29-2002, 02:21 AM

Thank you for sharing your visit with us. I, for one, have never been to New York (had always dreamed of visiting though). Now if I ever go it'll be a different New York...not different bad or good. A lot has changed this country, but sometimes changes can bring better things ~ such as you witnessed : people coming together, helping each other out.

Hootie

cash78mere · #4 03-29-2002, 06:42 PM

finerwoman-

you're right. i can't imagine having a ground zero all around me for my entire life. living in those countries must be scary as anything.

hootie-
you're welcome! you should definitely try to visit now while ny is rebuilding it's economy. hotels are still cheaper and we need all our tourists back! plus it's just a beautiful place to be!

GreekLetterGirl · #5 03-29-2002, 06:58 PM

thank you for sharing your story with us, what an experience you had, I want to go up to Ground Zero but have not had a chance yet ..

XO_Princess · #6 03-29-2002, 07:05 PM

You are so lucky to have gotten to visit! I would love to go, but not sure how I'd handle it emotionally. One of my friends who's in med school, and his wife were in NY for vacation when 9/11 happened. They're both nurses, so they went down to Bellvue to help. We were shy about asking them about it when they came back-we didn't know if they'd want to talk about it-but they told us what it was like. They got to tour ground zero one day, and said it was like being in hell.

cash78mere · #7 03-30-2002, 12:23 PM

XOprincess and greeklettergirl-

i definitely suggest going. it helps to put things into perspective. it looks much different now than 6 months ago. it used to be 4 stories above ground of debris, now it's like 6-8 stories below ground level. you really can't get anywhere near the site unless you know someone (like i did). you can go to the observation towers, but even those are far but offer the best view. standing on the sidewalk, you can't see anything but empty air space. you can see the pit from the observation towers though. emotionally, i think it is something that everyone should see. i just stood there with my mouth open, frozen in one spot, while my friend's dad explained everything.

just to add to my original post--tower 2 is almost completely cleared. just a small pile left. there's still plenty to tower 1 left. building 5 and 6 are still big piles of debris. what they do is a crane lifts big sections of debris into a pile while firefighters check the original pile for bodies. then other firemen check the smaller pile with a rake to check for bones. they they move that pile to another and it is checked again, this time more thoroughly. after that it is moved to the "clean" pile which is brought to the staten island dump for more testing. my friend's dad said that work is going much slower now since they're really trying hard to find body parts. the families are giving them a hard time that they aren't finding enough, but there's not much they can do about it. unfortunately, not much is left.

also, the site is in a "bathtub" with 4 retaining walls keeping out the river. the reatining walls have been leaking and on the verge of collapse. the river is seeping through the bottom of the site, since they are so far underground, and they have to put wooden beams there so they can walk. they are putting "trumpets" all over the walls to secure them. it looks like a square piece of concrete with a wire sticking straight out the middle.

i hope my descriptions are helping those of you that live far away and don't know what is going on at the site. that is my intention of the post.

PM_Mama00 · #8 03-30-2002, 12:50 PM

Last month my brother visited our family in Brooklyn and they went to see the site. He said it's just crazy down there. I really wana go see it, but finding time is hard.

NinjaPoodle · #9 03-30-2002, 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by cash78mere
so today my best friend and i toured ground zero.

her dad is one of the top guys in bovis, the company cleaning up the site, and her 2 brothers work there as well, so we were allowed past the barriers. we got up close and personal.

all i can say is WHOA. it is unbelievable so up close. we stood at the top of the mound and her dad explained everything that was going on. they had just found a civilian this morning. it took us forever just to walk around it. it was an incredible and humbling experience.

then we ate lunch in the "taj mahal" as they call it. it is FILLED with banners and there are cards on each table from children and others. the workers are treated so nicely by the wonderful salvation army people. we had to clean off our clothes, hands and shoes before we could enter--i proceeded to soak my feet right through my sneakers!

i admire those workers. they work 12 hour shifts sometimes in the rain, cold, snow, etc...and they never complain. what an important job they have.

just thought i'd share this. i'll never forget it. it was so important to me that i get down there--i can't believe i was able to see all that i did. there's so much going through my brain that i don't even know what to write. keep all those workers in your prayers--they deserve all the help we can give

Thank you for sharing. I still have issues just looking at books or photographs from that day. I pray a lot now, for the people who preished and also for our enimies. Hopefully, one day they too will see that hate is really not the answer.