Sept. 11th

i kind of forgot that Sept. 11th is coming up (it is my mother' birthday and that is how i think of it), until the other day when i was waiting for the E train and a cute tall blond, i am going to guess, German model-looking boy asked me, 'is this the train to The Ground Zero?' in a curious and excited tone. i said yes it will take you there and then he asked, 'is the stop called The Ground Zero?' i said no, World Trade Towers, then walked away, thinking no you idiot there was something else there before there was nothing. i guess it is good he got me, a non-New Yorker who was exiled from New England (ahh the college years) at the time of the attack. i thought about it while i snuck glances of him looking at his map. why would anyone want to go there. i have never been. i have only been to the towers once long before they were gone. then it occurred to me, that, as with most thing in America, it has become a tourist destination. this was both interesting to me and sad. i don't know if i will ever go see it, i don't know if i want to. but all the time i spend thinking about the Sept. 11th attack, i just keep trying to remind myself that this is something (ok maybe not as many lives lost in a single day) that happens every day in other nations and it is not as glorified as it is here. buildings that are bombed in Iraq don't end up being tourist destinations for supposed Germans, only in America does that happen. but then again, as with most things in America, it was bigger and more spectacular (please forgive the use of the word i don't me to sound like it am praising here) then most.