The Tribute WTC Center

Last Thursday, a warm day not too different from that of 911, I made the trip to the Tribute WTC Center to make the story of 911 my own. I was 14 years old and lived across the world in 2001, the attack made an impact but it felt far from real. Listening to the people at the Tribute Center was like watching a movie playing inside of my head. The shock and grief – genuine emotions that I felt finally made it real to me.

I have seen pictures and video captions of the building before and after 911, but listening to people describe the Twin-Towers made me realize it’s magnitude. Each floor of the buildings was one acre in size,; the WTC were described as “a city within a city.” Not only was the loss of the people unbearable, but also of this community; the Twin Towers were not just massive office buildings, there was a culture that existed within it.

Today we are used to watching people die in movies, hearing news of wars and terrorist attacks daily, in a way we have lost the capacity to feel for things. For me, to make it real, I must feel empathy for someone and their story. Lee Ielpi, a former fireman, lost his fireman son to the terrorist attack. On the day of the attack, Lee received a phone call from his son Jonathan saying, “Dad, we’re going to the World Trade Center,” - that was the last he heard from him. Jonthan Ielpi and more than 200 units of firemen went out that day, 343 of them died. Three months after 911, Jonathan’s body was found. When Lee realized his body was intact, he said he felt “lucky”. Only less than 200 full bodies out of the near 3000 that died were found. His version of “lucky” made me realize how extraordinarily lucky most of us are without even realizing it.

On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda hijackers drove two airplanes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in downtown Manhattan. The terrorist attack murdered 2974 people, becoming one of the biggest attacks on American soil. Everything was pulverized when the two buildings fell. In my imagination I had thought of it as a huge mess full of bent desks, broken windows and bodies. None of these things existed, one of the biggest pieces of glass found was smaller than my palm. All that was left was parts, a ten story high pile of compacted steel, and dust.

The Tribute WTC Visitor Center is located on 120 Liberty Street, next to Ground Zero. It opens at 10am or noon and closes at 6; there is a $10 admission fee. The tribute center offers a gallery, a walking tour, and a self-guided audio tour. It was started when Lee Ielpi and Jennifer Adams realized the need of a place for people to understand 911. If you were too young or far away at the time, the tribute center is a good place to get to know about September 11. The tear inducing quotes and artifacts are a little hard to bear but necessary. Although well made, the audio tour is not as worth taking. Listening through earphones while trying to figure out when to press play made it too impersonal.