Until the events of September 11th I never had any real desire to visit New York but after seeing so much of the city and people on television after that tragic day it was as if I was drawn to the city. We planned a trip the following August.  I would turn fifty there.  We planned to do all the touristy things but never made plans to visit Ground Zero. I had mixed emotions about seeing it.
   New York was everything I had imagined and much, much more. From the Broadway shows to the entertainers on the street, from the subways to the top of the Empire State Building, from the delis to the hot dog vendors and from the projects to the million dollar penthouses, it is truly a city of extremes.
   We visited the Statue of Liberty, which I have seen all my life on television but I was not prepared for the emotion I would feel actually seeing it. I knew that the hijackers and passengers had seen it and thought of how different their thoughts were of it. After our visit to the statue we were walking through the financial district and I certainly was not prepared once again as we turned the corner and there just ahead was Ground Zero.
   As we approached, I noticed the silence. Suddenly the sounds of the city were so far away. There among the skyscrapers was a void. I looked around at hundreds who had gathered but heard only silence. We were at the edge of a massive pit where the majestic towers once stood. A cross now took their place.  Eyes looked toward the heavens as tears fell to the ground.  As I remembered the thousands whose lives had been lost that tragic day I thought, “ There but for the grace of God go I.”  Yes, New York is a city of extremes just like the world we live in.

Carl