9/11 Remembered

I am unable to pin down my feelings about the 9/11 Memorial Museum that opened to the public last week.  I don’t want to go just because I feel I should; I want to go to honor the dead and to get a grip on the memory of that tragic event.  I don’t know how I feel about the gift shop.  I don’t know how I would feel about children who weren’t born yet running around the way children naturally do while I’m trying to come to grips with how I feel.  I don’t want to feel bummed out and I don’t want to think I might not feel reverent enough.  I don’t want people eating their lunch there.  Or buying key chains.

For quite a while you had to have a reserved ticket (free) to even visit the plaza itself but now that rule has been lifted and you can wander at will.  How do I feel about paying $24 (well, okay, $18 for seniors) to get into the museum?  I’ve been in downtown Manhattan innumerable times over the last decade and the closest I ever came to ground zero was the Century 21 discount clothing store on Church St. or driving past the excavation site on the Westside Highway.  I always felt protected by the tall fence that stood between me and my feelings.  But that barrier is gone now.  At least I’m thinking about it and my head is out of that particular sand.  But, you know what?  I still can’t really put into words how I feel or, worse, don’t feel.