Time for a quick visit to New York.
It’s one of my favourite places – although I’m finding the noise hard to deal with.
We went to the new 9/11 Memorial which is just about to open fully. The two spaces which mark the footprints of the twin towers are markers of now-empty space. And all the more poignant for that. Around them are the names of those who died. Many were from the NY Fire Department.
Over the years .. I remember being take to lunch in the Windows on the World Restaurant in 1989. We came as a family in 1998 and walked on the top of one of the towers. I brought a parish and diocesan group six months after 9/11 and we came and looked at the empty space. Terrorism on that scale had particular resonances for us. I had forgotten until today that people would stand on the pavement and applaud as a fire truck went by.
We were in New York last week (my first time). I found it a very invigorating place. The 9/11 monument is immensely moving in its simplicity and in its use of water to create a healing effect over the sombre black background.