20 years without the Twin Towers

Today it’s been 20 years since one of the most disruptive events in modern history. Two decades since the morning the world gasped and held its breath. The day when New York’s heartbeat stuttered and the sky over Lower Manhattan filled with fire, smoke and dust. The towers came down, but something else stayed in the air, a grief that never quite settled.

The world was so different back then. There was a lot of optimism in the air after the Millennium, but also a lot of activity. Changes were brewing. People were discussing Naomi Klein’s No Logo and having riots against George W Bush while bubblegum artists such as Britney Spears dominated the charts.

Then something happened that would leave a scar on the world. A pivotal event that would shape international politics and public opinions in the coming decades.

Ground Zero in New York 2002, as I saw it from a helicopter.

Every generation has moments in time when they remember exactly what they were doing at that time. Americans used to mention the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Most older Swedes remembers hearing about the murder of Olof Palme in 1986.

But unlike most of the previous events, this time the whole world was watching it unfold in real-time broadcasts during that faithful day.

Ground Zero in New York 2002.

Five days after the attack, I boarded an aircraft across Europe. To say that the security was on their toes would be a vast understatement.

When I visited Ground Zero the year after the attack, it felt as a bottomless pit. An impossibly empty space surrounded by a forest of skyscrapers. An open wound in the heart of the Big Apple.

Original placement of the twin towers.

A few years ago, I revisited the site. The new shining tower of One World Trade Center acts as a new beacon of hope. A symbol of defiance wrapped in mirrored glass. The original placement of the twin towers are marked by large pools of water.

The new beacon of One World Trade Center.

A very emotional museum is displaying some of the original construction and foundation, as well as personal items recovered from the debris.

9/11 Memorial.

New York moved on, because that’s what New York does. But something is missing in the skyline, and always will be.