Living in New York City as an architect, nothing fascinates us more than seeing some of the famous structures in real life as we only see most of them from our college textbooks, movies and architectural magazines. New York City alone has a lot of these structures. Walking in the concrete jungle and being able to see it personally awakens the soul of an architect, just like me. I was able to see the Empire State Building, Flatiron Building, Chrysler Building, World Trade Center and a lot more. We also took time to visit the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island Immigration Museum, Times Square, Broadway and also the Ground Zero Memorial & Museum. Seeing all of it especially the structures up close was so surreal.
There was this joy inside of me that I can’t contain living in New York City but none of it made me feel what I had felt when we went to have a tour inside the 9/11 Museum. I thought it was just like any other museums that I have visited before. It was a truly heartbreaking yet the most meaningful tour I have ever had. It was a different kind of experience. The attacked happened over a decade ago but it felt like it just happened yesterday. It just saddens me that the people may or may not yet moved on and found justice especially the families of the 2,977 victims. Experiencing it gave me a deep understanding and lesson that we should never take life for granted. Every second that we have is precious and we never know when it will be taken away from us. It can happen at times we least expect it. So we must seize it and let everyone that you know you are grateful for their existence in your life and that you love them before it’s too late.
This is the quote that can be seen in the Memorial Hall of the National September 11 Memorial Museum. It is an excerpt from Virgil’s Latin epic poem entitled Aeneid. The letters were made out of steel from the World Trade Center tower. This quote will put a mark on your visit.
No day shall erase you from the memory of time. – Virgil
I’ve seen so many beautiful things living in New York City, places and got to observe for a short period of time the life of the people living in New York City. You can imagine how hard it was for them when the attacked happened but still, they kept going. I guess this will be the city that I’ll never forget.
