Empty Sky: World Trade Center tribute

for better or worse, I didn't personally know anyone who died in the World Trade Center towers. I was living in NYC at the time of the collapse and a lot of us had "friends of friends" that did unfortunately perish. But again personally I didn't know anyone who died there. I did however mourn their loss a good deal, especially around the time of the tragedy: the 6 month anniversary, 1 year later  etc. 


However I did personally know and love the Trade Center itself. SInce I was young it was a center of interest for a kid like me. it was the location of the  ultimate scene of a King Kong flick back then. also it was a theatre for the famous "HUman Fly": George Willig, who scaled the side of a tower and was fined $1.10, a penny for every floor.


 Whenever my family made a trip near NYC, I loved to see the skyline from wherever you could see it, no matter the distance. I  loved to visit the towers, see the views, learn about them. 


Years later I was to become an actual  tour guide in NYC, where I  passed by and noted the towers regularly to everyone I could. Over the years and mainly because of the job, I learned more about them, and the great achievements that they went through:  human achievement, technological, architectural etc:

• the Center was a city within itself, where up to around 50,000 people would be employed on weekdays. . How many cities around the world don't have nearly that many people living within them? And the greatest fear that I and many had on the infamous Sept 11 was that so many more would be dead since the Center could hold so many. Not to belittle those that were killed, but it seems like a great miracle to me that the toll was relatively low. 
• an incredible 200,000 visitors per day on average. 
• It was literally on top of the one of the greatest financial centers in the world. A soaring symbol of capitalism, architecture, achievement and more. 
• It was possibly  the location of the  site of  furthest viewing in the world: on a very clear day, one could see around 55 miles away. Possibly 2 states away to Penn. An incredible view: I don't think even mountains like Everest boast that far a look. 
• the most stories of any building for decades: 110
• tallest building in the world when it was first built: over 1300 feet tall. 
• from what I read, highest inhabitable floors of any building for decades, higher than Sears
• one of the most beautiful restaurants in a city with some of the most beautiful restaurants on Earth: Windows on hte World. highest grossing restaurant in U.S. 
• one of, if not the largest office complex on Earth
• quarter mile height, 1 acre of space per floor, in the 70s.  had it' own zip code. 
• huge amount of construction, excavation, material which was used to actually build a whole new neighborhood: Battery Park City
• housing some of the great architectural influence of Le Courbusier and Yamasaki. 

When someone or something passes from me that was close to me, I like to note a lot of the positive  aspects that it had when alive. To me, the Center was very much alive from when I was a child up through its death, and that's why I have written about it. Please do not assume that because I am writing about steel and frame, that I elevate it above the souls of those that died then. If I had a choice, I would have the lives of all of those who perished saved, with  the towers falling down. But I think that we could mourn the loss of both.