A little over a week ago, the girls and I were planning out how to spend our final day in New York City. I had already taken them to a new museum (the Guggenheim), a new park (Central Park), a fun exhibit (the Harry Potter Exhibition, great concerts (Sirius/XM) old haunts (Times Square, Coney Island, Rockefeller Center). What was left? In the end, I decided we’d first go to the top of the Empire State Building, Union Square for Books of Wonder and Forbidden Planet, Ground Zero, and Rockefeller Center (again).
If you recall the news about Osama bin Laden from that Sunday, maybe you’ll think I was crazy to take my kids to Ground Zero that Monday. But, I wanted them to experience the city, the spirit. As it goes, whatever rallies had been on the news were long over when we got there. The area was teeming with news trucks and reporters desperately looking for a story.
So we decided to leave the media circus and head to that all-American locale (American Girl).
Suddenly “This thing is gonna blow,.. The fire department is on its way!” People are scrambling.
Flames and sparks shoot out of a manhole cover in the crosswalk we are in as we cross a street across from the WTC site. Explosions, like firecrackers bouncing around, come from the manhole as well. We quickly retreat back across the street. The girls are shaken. Me, I’m still trying to get a photo, though with no success.
Yes, we are at Ground Zero the day after bin Laden has been brought down. Yes, there is something out of the ordinary happening. But, statistically speaking, this is a transformer that has been blown, not a terrorist’s bomb. I calmed the girls down a bit, then decided to stick around. Why? To quell any nightmares. Once they see the fire department arrive, the police control the scene and nothing more happen, they’ll not fear every noise and every “out of the ordinary” event. Knowing the situation had an easy explanation and an easy resolution is reassuring.
And now, they have yet another story to tell one day.
