A Tribute To A Fallen Icon
"…As my memory rests but never forgets what I lost. Wake me up when September ends" - GREEN DAY
I guess the "in" thing now a days is creating a blog. And since I don’t have one before, I felt like I’m lightyears behind civilization. So, I decided to get the monkey off my back and try to be "in". As to what I should write about, I’m a bit clueless. I’m neither a blogging guru like Abet nor a sentimental person like Kath. And I’m too old to try to be cute…So, I’ll just write from the heart. After all, this is a good chanel to spread one’s thoughts. What comes to my mind every September is the 9/11 tragedy, that’s why I’ll begin my writings with a commemoration of the tragedy.
"After four long years, I’ve finally found a way to express my appreciation over its once proud existence, and my sadness over its untimely destruction"
It is September once again. For a number of reasons, this month has always been very significant for me. First, it’s the beginning of the "ber" months, which means Christmas is just around the corner. So, it is during this month that we begin to hear Christmas songs over the radio. (I heard my first Christmas song this year though, not from the radio, but from the first scene of the movie "Addams Family"). Then, for my college buddies in U.P.- Deb, Glen, Ernest, Enrico, et al. (who also happen to be my usual drinking buddies), it’s 30 days before Octoberfest. The month of the year dedicated to drinking beer. To frequent flyers to the western world like Meg, its the start of the the most colorful season of all - fall (it even rhymes).
Sadly though, four years ago, tragedy gave September a bad name. Everyone was shocked when two passenger airplanes hit the The World Trade Center located in the heart of New York City’s financial district. Everyone saw it on TV. It instantly became the most documented tragedy in the 5,000 year history of human civilization. Then, as the cliche goes, the rest was history. U.S. President Geroge W. Bush went on TV declaring "we are being attacked by faceless cowards…blah, blah, blah, blah, blah…."
Like a lot of Filipinos, I felt badly when the terrorist attacks happened. I mean who was n’t touched by this engineering wonder in one way or another. Even for those who have n’t been to New York hold a place in their heart for this landmark. We’ve seen it on countless films and television series (example: it’s where Macaulay Caulkin went for sight seeing in Home Alone 2 and the first line of defense when tidal wave hit the eastern seaboard of the U.S. in Deep Impact).
As an Architect, I was very amazed by the simplicity and elegance of the WTC. It looked frail but it stood so proud as a symbol of American economic might in the New York harbour, providing a dramatic back drop to the Statue of Liberty. Though not even the tallest building in the U.S., it stood out over the concrete jungle of NYC. Just anywhere you are, you can see it. From the liberty; while crossing G.W. bridge (over Hudson River, where Godzilla attacked) or Brooklyn Bridge (where Godzilla died); and right on top of the Empire State Building(I’ll pay tribute to this one later). But perhaps, the most astonishing view of it was from Exchange Place or Colgate in Jersey City, NJ.
I last saw the WTC on April of 2000. My mom and I were planning to go to the Holy Land and Rome then. Of course, it’s cool to be able to trace the roots of Catholicism and Christianity. Rome in itself has so many classical stories to tell in terms of Architecture (i’ll probably pay tribute to Rome also later on). We’ve both seen New York already, so we thought it’s better to go somwhere else. However, since my brother lives there, we both had a sudden change of heart and decided to go to New York instead. Anyway, New York is so big and we have n’t turned it inside out yet, in terms of strolling and sight seeing. Also, i felt that I need to see WTC one more time for a specific reason.
Earlier that year, in our design class, we were asked to design a high rise hotel to be located at Fort Bonifacio Global City. To minimize the complexity, we disregarded the soil conditions, etc. A guest Architect in the panel during our presentation, who then works for the Fort Bonifacio development questioned the layout of our subway station beneath the building. I forgot the Architect’s name but he’s also a U.P. alum. I argued that it is possible as it is a lot simpler compared to the highly complicated subway connections underneath the WTC complex. All NYC subway lines intersect at WTC station, not to mention the path train that crosses the Hudson all the way to Jersey. So, upon seeing WTC once again, i felt vindicated (though it would not affect my final grade in any way). I knew that my design was possible, at least as an idealized model.
Looking back, I was happy that I was still able to catch a glimpse of WTC just before it vanished from the face of our planet. It’s funny to think that the Pyramids of Giza and the Coliseum of Rome which were constructed thousands of years ago are still around, while the modern wonder just built no more than 3 decades ago is already gone.
