Every American should take the Path train to New York

Originally Posted April 13, 2006...

I had the privilege of taking the Path train from New Jersey to New York this week. The Path goes under the Hudson to New York from New Jersey. The stop in New York is the same as it was on 9-11, the World Trade Center site. The Path train enters the World Trade Center site from the northeast corner and makes a circle around the site before stopping in the rebuilt station.

I only ride the Path a few times a year - not enough to become familiarized and habituated to the experience. Each train ride is still filled with a sense of awe, disbelief, reverence, and a feeling of loss. The idea that these buildings were destroyed five years ago is still hard to conceive. Somehow, the War in Iraq, the subsequent attacks around the world, the tsunami, the hurricanes, the earthquakes, the absurd state of politics, the global economy and its ramifications, concerns over oil prices, all seem to obscure and overshadow what happened on this site 5 years ago.

From my perspective, I think we should leave the site as it is. Every American and every person committed to free, civil, democratic processes and societies - should make a pilgrimmage to the WTC site once a year. It should become our sacred destination in the east.

I understand this is not practical and it may not even be appropriate. The geography is too lucrative in terms of revenue generation - real estate is at a real premium in the downtown area. There is also the steps in the process of grieving, with a culmination in getting on with things as a way of honoring those lost.

T = To accept the reality of the loss

E = Experience the pain of the loss

A = Adjust to the new environment without the lost object

R = Reinvest in the new reality

Still, the site as it exists now is a constant reminder of our important place in the world and when something grandiose is built on the site in the future, the site will somehow lose some of the meaning and impact provided by this deeply spiritual and meaningful site.