Two and a Half Years Later, It Still Fascinates

My daily commute to and from a law firm in Battery Park city involves a stop at the World Trade Center subway and PATH station, from which there is an elevated view of the crater left behind by the 9/11 attacks. Every weekday, at around 9:30 am and 5:00 pm, there's a crowd standing behind the grating and staring at the ruins. Often enough, some of them are snapping photos, and occasionally there's a bizarre (to me at least) ritual of taking photos of the wreckage with oneself or travelling companion in the foreground.

The apotheosis of that last phenomenon, naturally, was the time a group of Japanese tourists wanted to pose in front of the crater, flashing beaming smiles, and exhorting native New Yorkers to appear in their photographs, also smiling.

To this day I cannot walk through the terminal without looking out at the gaping wound that Lower Manhattan suffered. It's a place that resonates with a kind of psychological energy.