Standing at Ground Zero in New York City on Sunday, Sept. 10 made this year’s 911 commemorative tributes even more vivid in my heart and mind. It’s been 16 years since that dreadful day Sept. 11, 2001 when personal memories remain forever imbedded.
    Following tradition, a fire truck draped with bunker gear on display in front of the local fire station raised tribute to the fallen firefighters. Having just seen the actual crushed fire trucks, burnt bunker gear and footage of the devastating action from that day was even more significant.
    While frightened survivors were frantically making every attempt to get out of the crumbling and burning World Trade Center towers, they met firefighters going up the stairs, risking their own lives in the line of duty.
    The local display reinforces that it’s not only the heroism of firefighters serving the 911 attack. Firefighters, law enforcement and other professional and volunteer first responders locally as well as across the country continually put their own lives at risk for others.
    Emotions stirred as we stood at the reflective pools where the Twin Towers once stood, each nearly an acre in size. Waterfalls flow in depth more peacefully than when the Twin Towers plummeted into the ground in the same spot, leaving no remains of victims.
    Nearly 3,000 names of everyone who died are inscribed into bronze panels edging the memorial pools. Lights from the pool illuminate through each name at night. Those killed at the Pentagon and where the plane went down in Pennsylvania that day are also include as well as the six killed in the World Trade Center bombing in 1993.

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