As you approach lower Manhatten, there is an area that looks oddly familiar, with several grey, glass and comparitively stunted looking towers rising up relatively far from other buildings.  Like some modern architectural version of ancient rock formations, these buildings stand out of place in this City of compacted usage.

But then you realize that they are out of place, in a sense.  What's missing next to them is what were once the two tallest structures on the planet.

I approached the World Trade Center site with mixed apprehension.  The events of 9/11/2001 bring about such an upheaval of emotions - the tragedy of the day - and the further tragedy of how the events of the day were used to start forming our country into something it should never be.  Is a place where so many died a terrible death a tourist attraction?  Should it be memorialized in that way?  Or is visiting it more towards honoring those who have fallen and remembering what was, though undeniably tragic, a piece of our shared national history?  Is visiting Ground Zero much different than visiting Normandy or Gettysburg in that respect?

The tone at the site was that of quiet contemplation.  The whole of the area is blocked off by large metal fencing as they begin construction on the new site, with one large scarred building on the south end under repair, a cross made out of original girders, and a large concrete pit - the sublevels of the site.  Along the metal fence are pieces of historical information about the site along with a list of those who died on "IX XI".  Indeed, if you did not know what you were looking for and were not familiar with the area, it might just look at first glance like yet another construction area.  One lady walking by asked her friend, "I wonder what this is about?" before realizing.

In front of the cross of girders is a piece of fence where someone wrote "Love never dies."  In a place where so much hatred could be evoked and in whose name further pain has been inflicted in this world, I found it fitting.