 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Eight Years Later, Twin Towers' Yet Shinning
By Noquel A. Matos
On the 8th Anniversary of 9/11, Tribute in Lights still draws attention.
By Noquel A. Matos
NEW YORK, Sept.11- Today, at sunset New York City paid tribute once again to the victims of the terrorist attacks of 9/11 by projecting lights into the sky emblematic of the lost twin towers on the anniversary of their death.
The “Tribute in Lights” first appeared on the sixth anniversary of the attacks eight years ago, painting the night sky above the still smoking pits where the World Trade Center once stood for a full month. The attacks on New York, the worst terrorist event in American history, took 2, 993 lives and sparked a decade of war which continues to destabilize the world.
From dusk to 11:00 pm, Space Canon Searchlights pumped 88, 7,000 watts into the sky forming two beans of lights meant to evoke the lost towers. The tribute has been repeated on every anniversary of the tragic event.
At 9:10pm, almost two hours after the two vertical representational beams of lights of South Tower and North Tower rose into the Ground Zero Skyline, people still gathered “to pay respect and remembrance to the city”, as Vikiram Aruning, a resident of the area, put it. He stood there with his wife and two years old daughter among a group that varied in size from about 35 to 60 people.
Among the mourners and sky watchers, the energy varied from gloom to euphoria.
“I miss you Michael, I miss you,” yelled a man wearing a New York sweatshirt obviously distressed and drunk, complaining about tourist and daring any Muslims in the crowd to come out.
But he was the exception.
The rest of the sky watchers paid their respects silently, whispering to each other or keeping to themselves while staring at the lights blankly. John, who took pictures with his camera although the rain made the lights hardly visible, when asked why he took pictures said: “I’m a New Yorker, so you know…I want to capture the lights. They still have a meaning. The city is taking long to build the towers.”The city is scheduled to finish building the National September 11 Memorial Museum by September 2010. However it does not look like it will finish the memorial by the promised deadline. The National September 11 Memorial Museum being constructed at the Ground Zero Site is not even half way done with less than a year pending for its opening. The Memorial will consist of 4 towers and memorial gardens for both police and firefighters.Meanwhile, the Tribute in Lights has held the place of the museum as way of remembrance. There are some who argue that even after the construction of the memorial Museum the city should keep doing the Tribute in Lights every anniversary.
Martin Bryant, a West London citizen who was present at the Tribute in Lights site for the first time said he remembered being in the South Tower 11 years ago visiting a friend. He reminisced that two years after his visit to the Twin Towers, watching them collapse on national television: “It’s simply the kind of thing that unless you don’t see it, you don’t believe it,” he said.
In this 8th anniversary of 9/11 New Yorkers were able to see the mirage image of their lost Towers yet again; however the possibility of doing so in the future is uncertain. The city has not disclosed how it plans to fund the expensive event for next year’s anniversary, which eludes that it would have to be funded by private donations. Between the years of 2004-2008 the Tribute in Lights ceremony was sponsored and made possible by the $3.5 million donations from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. This year although the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of New York (MTA) and Battery Park Association took the responsibility of sponsoring and organizing the Tribute of Lights event, they have not promised to do so in the future. This could possibly mean that today was the last time people could see the Tribute of Lights to the victims of 9/11.