On my recent road trip through New York my list of hot spots to see seemed to grow with each mile I drove. By the end of my trip the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, shopping on Fifth Avenue (love the glass Apple store), Trump Towers and Central Park all sat neatly behind check marks on my ‘to see’ list.
Though it was great to visit such famous landmarks, the emotional blow came when I emerged from the subway and caught my first glimpse of Ground Zero.
Ghastly shadows lit from behind moved slowly along a chain fence. The ceiling closed in on me and the air became a little staler as I neared the edge and peered into the deep hole where two giants once reigned.
Essentially a mass grave for thousands who perished in the destruction, the hole left from the towers’ demise drew me in. The area feels heavy. Silence befalls everyone who nears the hole.
My mind conjures up memories of the disturbing images the world witnessed that September morning, beamed around the world on satellite TV.
As a human it saddened me, as a world explorer I questioned travelers’ addiction to Dark Tourism; ‘the act of travel and visitation to sites, attractions and exhibitions which has real or recreated death, suffering or the seemingly macabre as a main theme’.
While in no way a new phenomenon, Dark Tourism continues to thrive as an underlying purpose for many travelers. Upon my return from New York I identified other places of tragedy visited during my travels. Images of the Agent Orange-soaked badlands of Vietnam, the battlefields of Kentucky and the slave port of Ouidah, Benin seeped into my mind – all unconnected to the World Trade Centre, yet oddly intertwined in our collective history.
Though I had never been to New York prior to tragic event of September 11, 2001, it made me realize how fast things change and how important it is to explore the world’s treasures before any more are destroyed.
No comments:
Post a Comment