Posted on 07/16/2012 12:33:44 PM PDT by Jakarta ex-pat
After a couple of days staying on Long Island, it was time to take a bite out of "The Big Apple". My first port of call seemed a no brainier, to view Manhattan from the 110th floor of the WTC.
It was a clear July day in 1984, and the beginning of one of the most exhilarating times of my life, a 6 month trek through over 30 sates.
As a Brit, I needed to take in as much as possible, and as I rode the elevators up, I glanced at the free pamphlet and read the slogan above the photo of the twin towers. It read, "The Closest some of us will ever get to heaven."
At the top, I found it eerily vacant, possibly due to my early start. On this trip, I was later to ascend both The Sears Tower, and the CN tower in Toronto, but for a sense of spirituality, none could come close to this view of the might and majesty of America at her finest.
Last year, I went up the Empire State for the first time, and the number of check points, the price, and the amount of time it took (approximately 2 hours) reminded me how hassle free, and quick, it had been all those years ago, And of course I didn't have to pay $25 or have to put up with a guy in a gorilla suit "greeting" us half way.
At the school I teach in, we often use the slogan, " Focus on the journey, not the destination" But for fifteen minutes of my life on a tranquil summers day, I focused on my destination, "The closest some of us will ever get to heaven"
NEVER FORGET
interesting perspective.
I consider myself blessed to have visited the top of the WTC back in the late 90’s, and twice blessed for not having been a victim of Islamic scum for having done so.
‘’Never Forget’’. And Never Forgive.
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