(I visited Ground Zero in 2005, four years after the catastrophic day. I filed this report based on my impressions).
By Romy Marquez
NEW YORK CITY - Bent but unbowed, the human spirit soared higher than the world’s tallest buildings put together, ever more determined to overcome the terrorist attacks that have rallied a nation than sundered it.
Nowhere else is that much evident except at the very scene of the horrific tragedy itself – at Ground Zero in New York City’s Lower Manhattan district.
The pain and the grief have somewhat subsided among the hundreds of families whose kin perished in the attacks on September 11, 2001 only to be taken over by a firm resolve to reign triumphant over man’s worst adversaries.
Where once stood the World Trade Center’s twin towers is now an open pit hallowed by the flesh and blood of 2,749 people, among them Filipinos, who died a gory death in the horrendous crash of two planes that leveled the North and South Towers to the ground.
"All we are is dust in the wind"– as the song goes – is an apt description of what had become of the many lives snuffed out in an instant.
But the dust is of the martyred ones and the invisible spirit that makes it soar is of those who perished, whose survivors come to Ground Zero in celebration of their lives and times.
From among the thousands – relatives, friends, tourists and plain kibitzers – who thronged here, tears flowed out incessantly today, Sept. 11, 2005, as reminders of the attacks hovered everywhere in New York City and beyond, enriching the sanctity of Ground Zero as an unexpected burial ground.
Bells pealed, taps sounded and the eerie moments of silence called four times – at 8:46, 9:03, 9:59 and 10:29 a.m. marking the times the planes slammed the edifice and the times they collapsed – was punctured only by sobs and the clasping of hands.
Among those in the multitude were the families and kin of Filipino victims who were either passengers of the planes or employees working at the two towers.
