Alone with eight billion others around you: Dark days in history
Every once in a while we face dark days in our lives. It’s part of being alive, part of being a human. How we face these moments and how we get through them differs from person to person. Some of us are extroverts who need to talk about those events, about their feelings, and about their opinions. It’s part of their natural selves.
There are also introverts. I myself know for a fact that I am one of them. Part of being an introverted person is that you most likely go through those struggles all by yourself. You feel most comfortable when you are on your own, taking in everything that happens during the day and discussing it with your inner self at the end of the day while getting ready to go to sleep.
In May 2023, I visited the city that never sleeps. I went to the Big Apple itself, trying to comprehend the lives of people who live in those Cities. New York is one of the many places where you can be visible and invisible all at the same time. Why? Because it’s such a big and busy city, and at the same time it also gives you a cozy feeling. All the strangers’ faces you see there, are only seen once in your lifetime, and then they’re gone forever.
Visiting New York felt amazing. strolling through Central Park alone gives you a soothing feeling. Walking all the way from Manhattan to the battery takes you a couple of hours on foot, but if there’s no time limit and you have great weather conditions you’ll have an amazing time doing so. Once you arrive at the Battery, you have an amazing view over the bay and the lovely face of Lady Liberty greeting every visitor from all across the globe.
New York has everything for everyone. There is one place in this amazing city that will give you shivers tho. I even started crying automatically upon my arrival there. I’m speaking of course of the place that must be written down deep into people’s memories; Ground Zero.
Alone with eight billion others around you: Dark days in history
When the name Ground Zero is spoken out loud, The pictures of the planes crashing into the towers immediately come to mind. The same happened to me when I arrived at the memorial ground. I saw the names carved into the metal platings that had been created for the memorial and saw a picture of the towers collapsing. Standing at the memorial scene, and seeing those pictures in my head, made me collapse also. I did not have the power to control my emotions at that moment. I felt the pain, grief, and anger that all these victims had to go through running through my veins and the tears followed directly with them. On top of that, it was also a rainy day back then. As if God was weeping along with me.
We had many dark days in our history already, and all of them were at least as bad as 9/11 was. But I still remember that day as if it was yesterday. I’m not even an American Citizen, but this news was broadcast worldwide. I remember that I came back from school and that the news was broadcasting it all live in Belgium. When I saw the first pictures on the news, I saw that the first building was burning and had a large hole in it at the top. I asked my parents what had happened, but they were as shocked as I was seeing those images. We were all witnesses of the second plane hitting the second tower and that image is one that will never leave my mind anymore.
When the first tower collapsed we were only seeing this happen on live television. These images we took with us and most of us will remember those images forever. They are truly living proof of one of the darkest days in human history and when I finally had the chance to see this place in real life I saw the images again in my head. A reminder of the day that had instantly changed the world for good.