Photo credit: L. Tripoli
I am in New York City on a day when politicians ride the subways to reassure people that there’s no threat posed by terror. I pass through Grand Central Station at a time when there seem to be a lot of police around and other enforcement personnel –not sure whether they’re federal, state, or possibly local—with big guns. I walk to Times Square where the police presence is maintained. I act as if there’s no threat, like I’m not thinking about it, like it’s not a beautiful sunny day like one particular one in our collective past.
I am not alarmed, I do not worry, but when I walk by the Kneeling Fireman in midtown, I am reminded of 9/11. I stop, I read about this piece—it was originally destined for a different location before the 2001 terrorist attack but stayed here as a tribute—in front of Emigrant Bank, whose early customers had indeed emigrated from other places to this one, whose kids often grew up to be firefighters.
I am just cruising by on a bright fall day, but when I see this statue I become like so many other tourists: In the present, curious, willing to stop, to learn, to consider the history of this place.
—Lori Tripoli
Photo credit: L. Tripoli
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