The most important sight at ground zero now is Michael Arad’s emerging memorial. The shells of two giant pools are 30 feet deep and are set almost exactly in the places where the towers once were.
The huge waterfalls around the sides, the inscribed names of victims and the plaza are promised by the 10th anniversary next year. But two 70-foot tridents that were once at the base of the twin towers were installed last week. The museum will be built around them by 2012. And the first 16 of 416 white swamp oaks were planted on the eight-acre surface.
Surrounding that memorial will be a ring of commercial towers ”” eventually to be filled with workers, commuters, shoppers, tourists, the full cacophony of New York City. The tallest skyscraper is now a third of the way up. The developer Larry Silverstein has one of his skyscrapers taking shape ”” this one by the Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki. The bases of two more are finally beyond the planning stage.
I’m a bit tired of memorials and weeping. I’d like to see those towers rebuilt even taller. Perhaps, some believe that such an action would anger Islam. I want Islam to worry about what angers me.
The catastrophe of 9/11 reminds us that we should have a healthy fear of the destruction that Islamic terrorists intend for us, those who died on 9/11 have paid the price of our ignorance of the terrorists intentions and ability.
It seems to me that the one of the best things that we in America should do in memory of the people who died on 9/11 is to, at least monetarily, disable the terrorists who committed this horrible crime by becoming energy independent and cutting off the enormous flow of money to oil rich countries which directly or indirectly, fund Al-Qaeda and other Islamic terrorist organizations.