A National Treasure

Full disclosure – this blog has absolutely nothing to do with dentistry – but I hope you will read it anyway. My wife and I were recently in New York City for a quick two day whirlwind of business, theatre, and dinner with friends. The unquestioned highlight of our visit was a two hour guided tour of the 9/11 Museum at the lower tip of Manhattan. A year ago, on another trip, we had gone to see the new World Trade Center building and the memorial pools, but didn’t have the time to visit the Museum.

The 9/11 Museum has been constructed within the actual footprint of the North and South towers that were destroyed. This is hallowed ground. At one point, you are seven stories below street level on the bed rock of Manhattan. It is very overwhelming to visit this museum. Bring a handkerchief. The minute by minute account of what happened on that Tuesday morning 15 years ago is dramatically portrayed with video, photography, and the real size artifacts of twisted steel and damaged fire engines. Almost 3000 innocent people lost their lives, and their families were forever impacted.

I can not help but think that as we celebrate Thanksgiving and enter this Holiday season, we should remember the resilience that the citizens of New York and our nation as a whole displayed in dealing with this unspeakable horror. Perhaps that will help us now and give us courage and optimism as we try to understand and cope with the current economic and political issues that are seemingly dividing our country.