Think Elysian Ground Zero in New York City - Never Forget 9/11 Memorial photography // www.thinkelysian.com

9/11 Ground Zero Memorial in NYC

Well, today I start blogging about New York City! What an amazing way to start off the journey – at the 9/11 Ground Zero Memorial. If you are in New York, or passing through, my #1 recommendation would be a trip to Ground Zero to pay respect to the victims of 9/11.

The attack came at a time where I wasn’t really mature enough to understand the full capacity of the situation. I knew what happened, but didn’t really see how it affected me personally. It took quite awhile for me to understand the seriousness of what happened on 9/11. I cringe when I think of the innocent people hurt and killed. Tears come to my eyes when I think of all of those who risked their lives that day – firefighters, law enforcement, civilians, and rescue dogs – and all that lost their lives that day. I think of all the families left behind with a gut-wrenching reality and the caring neighbors that went above and beyond to comfort them. I am so proud to come from a country that banded together during a tragedy that took place to break us all. I look back on how the spirit of the nation changed – people were so caring, so generous and so genuine. There is so much hate in the world. I feel like we’ve all lost our way sometimes – it scares me somedays, but I know that there is still a light in all of us. There is always a light flickering within to do the right thing – no matter how small or how big – it is the American way. We will never forget what happened that day and I hope it is a constant reminder to lift each other up during hardships instead of tearing each other down.

We visited the 9/11 Ground Zero Memorial on our trip to NYC – it was a gloomy, rainy and cold day… C-O-L-D. Did I mention it was COLD? I was sad we were on such a tight time frame we were not able to go inside to the museum, but we felt it necessary to stop by ground zero. Being there just makes you step back and think about where you were that day. Right in front of you are thousands of names – men, women, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers – beloved people. So many names are beautifully memorialized around that water feature. It is an amazing memorial and I hope that everyone can visit it someday. I believe the 9/11 Ground Zero Memorial is definitely bucket list worthy.