Visit to Ground Zero

Ground Zero -- beyond pilgrimage

A visit to Ground Zero -
beyond pilgrimage to peacemaking

Janet Adair Hansen wrote these reflections upon taking three high school students from central New York State to visit Ground Zero last month. This essay has been published in the Cortland Standard for Sept. 11, 2002. She is editor of PRC Update, the newsletter of Presbyterians for Restoring Creation.

[9-14-02]

Only guard yourself and guard your soul carefully, lest you forget the things your eyes saw. And lest these things depart your heart all the days of your life. And you shall make them known to your children, and to your children's children. - Deuteronomy 4:9

On August 12^th - 14^th, 2002, the Rev. Dr. Janet Adair Hansen of Christ Presbyterian Church and three seniors at Cortland High School visited New York City for a "Presbyterian U.N. Seminar" on environmental issues and sustainability (two weeks before the Earth Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa). On their last afternoon in New York City, the group went downtown and visited Ground Zero.

The area of "Ground Zero" is barricaded off, with places for public viewing through wire-mesh fencing. Visitors, church groups and families from all over the country and around the world are still coming to see where the Twin Towers once stood. Parents lift young children and speak in hushed tones, Japanese men consult a brochure and point out into the area, fresh-faced midwestern teenagers talk into a video cam about "the love of Jesus Christ" and how moved they are to stand there in New York. Angela Thompson, Michael Avery and Daniel Miller stare through the hexagonal spaces of the fence, silent.

Construction workers passing by on the other side of the fence still have serious looks on their faces, but do not have that haggard and grim look that was seen in the early months of rubble clearance after the terrorist attacks. It looks like at least 5-6 stories dug down into the earth, with steel girders and concrete blocks visible. More than anything it looks like a gaping hole, a place where something used to be. More than anything the place feels empty, hollow, a ghostly echo of loss far greater than the gap between the buildings still standing. There is a metal cross high on the east side of Ground Zero. Someone nearby says it used to be somewhere else in the area of destruction, and was moved to its present position.

This is a place of pilgrimage. Another stop along the pilgrim way is Grand Central Station, where display boards show some of the photos, "missing" posters, "I will always love you, Mom" messages and toys, bracelets, and personal items that were spontaneously posted in the days after the terrorist attacks. Another pilgrim destination is St. Paul's Episcopal Church, the oldest public building in continuous use (since the late 17^th century). A sign at St. Paul's announces that the building is now closed for repairs, after eight months of continuous service and ministry following September 11^th. All along the high black wrought iron fence surrounding the church compound are gifts, memorials, tributes to the fallen. Every part of the fence is covered with stuffed animals, posters, banners, shirts, hats and messages - from Minot, ND and southern California, from a church in Tennessee to a volunteer firefighters' group in the Midwest. The fence reminds one of prayer scarves bedecking trees near a Native American ritual site - only the Ground Zero tributes are so numerous and so heavily layered and stacked it is a miracle the iron fence doesn't collapse from the weight of it all.

Street entrepreneurs have set up folding card tables for business near Ground Zero and St. Paul's, hawking t-shirts and glossy photo books and everything in between. The spiritual significance of a key-chain from Ground Zero may be elusive to some, but then again, the overall spiritual significance of the pilgrim's trip to the World Trade Center site is also elusive.

The spiritual questions are always the hardest ones to answer. How can we move beyond "reaction" to the horrific events of a year ago, and move toward "transformation?" How can we turn from the tragedy of war into possible peace? How can we leave behind prejudice, resentment and misunderstanding and find interfaith and intercultural dialogue? It is not enough to stand near the rubble and remember. The call of conscience, the demand of God is to stand up for truth and justice. To engage in lies and enmity is to sink to the level of those our country's leader named "evil" for their actions resulting in loss of innocent life. The rise to a spiritual level means finding a way not to just react back and attack, but to overcome evil with good.

True tribute to the tragedy of last September 11^th is not shown by going to gaze out at Ground Zero. True tribute is shown by trying to make sure this kind of terrorism and intentional warfare is never repeated. Displays at the United Nations show that mere fractions of what the nations of the world spend on warfare and building up of armaments could provide education globally, vaccinations and medicines throughout the world, totally erase 3^rd world debt, and even solve environmental problems like climate change. It is time to try peace, to "give peace a chance." Let us as a community, as a state, as a country, try a different tactic from making ever greater shows of force.

Let us instead provide safe, open dialogues about alternatives to warfare, and desist from labeling those who advocate peaceful resolution to conflict as "unpatriotic." Let us educate our public leaders and raise public consciousness on the real effects of violence, even when "justified" and emphasize the real possibilities of peace. Let us guard against the erosion of our civil liberties and the drain on our human services budgets as a consequence of engaging in a "war on terrorism." Let us urge our U.S. foreign policy to place priority on human rights, true democracy, and respect for other cultures.

Going to New York City and walking as a patriotic pilgrim over to Ground Zero does not necessarily make one more holy or closer to God. While viewing Ground Zero is emotionally moving, it takes a re-orientation of the human heart and soul to truly stand on holy ground. The "Beatitudes" that Jesus spoke do not proclaim that one will be blessed for standing at the location of loss and vowing revenge, but rather, "Blessed are the peacemakers…" At the conclusion of the popular movie and video "Miss Congeniality," the Sandra Bullock FBI character chokes up and confesses, "I really do want world peace." As we come up on the anniversary of last September 11^th, let us not just list names of lives lost last September, but let us leave a lasting legacy - one that promises to make peace.