Docent blog - December 9, 2014 A challenging early commute this morning to be certain! Starting with our driveway and continuing to the bottom of our hill, was 10 minutes of sheer terror! Seriously...once I made the decision to try going down the hill my fate was sealed! There was NO way I could have turned around (if you know my hill, you would understand!) so I took a deep breath, hugged the side of the road where there was some gravel for traction while trying to avoid slipping into the little uneven ditch that paralleled the descent and did a very controlled slide to the bottom. It was like driving on an icy pond on skates - nothing could be controlled at 5:10 AM! The speed at which I descended the hill did not even register on the speedometer! But I digress...the rain was heavy and the motivation was even heavier to get ourselves into the museum this morning - this cute young couple from across the pond were coming for a visit...The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge! By design, the museums morning attendance was down...way down...to accommodate the royal visit. Anticipation was very high and all sorts of museum protocol was being invented as the morning moved toward the arrival. Museum staff, including docents, were given a briefing of ground rules, which included no photos being taken...I quickly bypassed this inconvenience by handing my camera to a couple from Kentucky!...and we all took our places. I was delighted to learn that my first position of the day was at the Survivor Stairs...the very place where Will and Kate would be moving down to bedrock to see a bit of the museum. Of course, I was not alone. About 15 minutes before the entourage arrived, there were no less than 20 museum staff and security positioned there, as well...5 minutes before there were 27 people and, once they arrived, I lost count! I will admit that it was exciting to be a tiny...ok...infinitesimal and insignificant...part of the royal visit to the museum. Immediately upon our arrival at the parking garage, we could feel the enthusiasm...the tension...and the pouring rain and unrelenting wind. There were network trucks, cameras, microphones, wires and lights lining the walk toward the museum. Uniformed security was everywhere...NYPD, PAPD, museum security, a British entourage and the royal couples personal security, as well. There were many suited men walking around with the couple, some as personal assistants. I have to assume there were other security personnel within the area but I cannot confirm that. We noticed that a large area on the plaza had been cordoned off surrounding the northwest corner of the South Tower pool. We soon learned that all the umbrellas were covering cameras and equipment for the media. This was also the corner honoring Flight 93, where the princess would later offer a bouquet of flowers in memory of those lost. It was impossible to walk around the South Tower. All museum staff had to enter via the group entrance and the anticipation of the royal arrival was palpable...all very exciting. Both the Duke and Duchess were gracious and elegant, full of respect and attention to the event and the location with unfettered confidence and grace as they walked through the courteous and considerate assemblage of people at bedrock. It was a moment to remember. After the royal couple left the museum, things returned to normal...well...OMG-we-saw the-future-king-of-England-and-his-queen normal, anyway! For obvious reasons, there were an inordinate number of Brits in the museum today - so proud of their royal family and hoping to get a glimpse of them...and they did! I had spoken to a few of these families and saw them standing at the railing by the Historical Exhibition taking photos, waiting quietly and respectfully. I found that everyone who was lucky enough to see the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge did so in this manner - there were no outbursts or breaching of the frozen zones. It was all good! My shift ended within a couple of hours following the royal departure but, as usual, I met some very interesting people. I met a former school administrator from Illinois and his three sons. They were in Foundation Hall, having just come out of the Historical Exhibition. They were pretty subdued from the experience and had lots of questions and comments. His sons, all grown, remembered exactly where they were and what they were doing on 9/11, and the oldest one admitted that his joining the military was a direct result of what he saw on 9/11/2001. In Center Passage, I met a woman from Fort Pierce, Florida who was enjoying a Girls Only trip. In 2000, she and her husband, Randy Jones, owned a private plane and lived close to Vero Beach. On September 11, 2000, exactly one year before the attacks of 2001, there was a mid-air collision involving their private plane. Roger Boromei, 31, of Mainesville, Ohio and a personal friend of the Jones, and Ameer Bukhari, 39, of Saudi Arabia, died when the airplanes they were flying collided on Sept. 11, 2000. Ameer Bukhari had trained at the Flight Safety Academy. As it turned out, all of the extremists involved in the 9/11/2001 attacks were training at this facility. Within two hours, Bukharis family, who lived in close proximity to Flight Safety Academy, was out of the country returning to their native Saudi Arabia. The woman telling this story was quite stoic during most of this exchange. It was as she remembered the aftermath of the event that she became emotional...almost guilty that she and her late husband spent some time at the flight school, met the hijackers and never had any suspicion...until it was too late...she was obviously carrying that burden with her today as she recounted the story. There were visitors from Maryland who thought the museum and its exhibits were amazing. A young group of travelers from Kentucky joined us and I had a very lively discussion with them, inspired by their many questions. They vacillated between silence and tears as we discussed what they remembered on 9/11/2001. They heard the names being read by family members outside of Memoriam Hall announcing the loss of their loved ones and remarked how sad the air felt, almost making it hard to breath. They wanted to give themselves some time to regroup before seeing the rest of the museum and, knowing the Duke and Duchess were arriving in @15 minutes, they proceeded down Tribute Walk. The returned in time for me to hand them my camera, since I was not authorized to take any photos of the royal couple! They agreed to do so and I agreed to send them some of the photos. There were visitors from New York, Rockland County, New Jersey and Maine. There was a group of 6th graders from the Bronx who had no idea they had missed the Duke and Duchess but who were well-informed about many aspects of 9/11. I spoke to them in Center Passage and they struggled to understand why these attacks happened at all. They wanted to know about the extremists and how it was that they could plan such a thing against people they didnt know...why couldnt they just let us live our lives our way and they live their lives their way...it just wasnt fair...and I struggled with how to give them answers that would satisfy their bewilderment and uncertainty. A couple from Summit, NJ shared that the husband has worked in the North Tower during the 1993 parking garage bombing and had survived. He was on his way to work when he saw the planes hit...in disbelief and shock he said he honestly considered going to the site to help his colleagues and friends. It was simply impossible to believe what he was seeing. He and his wife were here to find the names of those he worked with and had befriended during his time spent in the North Tower. It was proving to be a sobering experience and was a difficult decision for them to have made to come here to honor those lost. But, they proceeded and managed to visit the remainder of the museum, including the Historical Exhibition. I spoke to them before they left and, while they were obviously overwhelmed with what they had seen, they were satisfied and content that their first visit was a fulfilling one. Visitors from Germany had tons of questions, too, wanting to know how the buildings collapsed, how those who survived escaped, if immediate death was the norm. Two teary-eyed women from Ireland were mustering up the courage to enter the Historical Exhibition. They shared what they had seen on television while home in Ireland and how helpless they had felt watching the events open up to the world. I told them about the exit doors within the Historical Exhibition and that gave them some peace of mind, knowing they could leave quietly if the experience became too difficult for them to bear. Holding hands, they walked toward the exhibition, looking at each other as they entered the exhibition through the revolving doors... Before my docent duty was complete, I met two police officers from the Honolulu, Hawaii Police Department. They were in New York to accompany an inmate back to Hawaii who was being extradited. We chatted about how that scenario would play out and then found ourselves talking about the attacks. They were both native to Hawaii, having lived on the main island their entire life. They revealed that they were freshman police officers in 2001 and remembered being in the precinct on 9/11 when the news came in about the attacks. Everyone watched the news nonstop. We talked about the general reaction of their fellow officers and it was not surprising to hear the words shock, horror, fear, nausea, dread...even panic as they all thought of their own families and the future of America. Friends from their precinct came to NYC in 2001 to help with recovery and clean-up. They confirmed that at least two of those officers who had come to New York, were currently struggling with respiratory illness. Being in the museum was a testament not only to those who died, but also to those who were now suffering from the generosity of their humanitarian response following the attacks. I met a group of women at M-27 who were enjoying a mini-reunion. They had known each other for over 50 years and had come together to reconnect after their last annual gathering. They arrived in New York from Ohio, Pennsylvania, California, New York, Colorado and Washington state. They had many questions and our discussion was an emotional one. They had lost a friend from high school in the 9/11 attacks and had found his name in Memoriam Hall. They agreed that seeing his photos and those of his family and children was heart breaking, knowing what he and his family were missing...family celebrations, marriages, births, graduations, barbecues, vacations, laughter and those everyday moments that create everlasting memories...one of them confessed that she couldnt help but personalize what she learned about those whose photos were arranged on the wall in Memoriam Hall. She saw herself and her husband, her children and grandchildren, who were not born as of 9/11/2001 and whom she never would have known or held or giggled with or spoiled...so much was taken away on that day which can never be recovered...my heart just breaks for the loss they and their families have endured....
Posted on: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 04:28:35 +0000
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