[ New York 2008: A Spiritual Pilgrimage ]

 

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Some things you just have to share.  When you cry during the production of them, they are meant to be shared.  I believe very strongly in what I'm doing here, and I would greatly appreciate your help, and to be able to share my recent journey to Manhattan and New York City with you.  Please consider purchasing a DVD.  Thank you so much for your support!

 

Friday, February 29th through Sunday, March 1st, 2008, I took a weekend trip to New York City, my first time ever.  I was incredibly blessed and honored to have been able to go.  This trip was a very intimate, personal, spiritual pilgrimage for me...sure, I wanted to do some tourism, but I mainly went to go visit Ground Zero.

 

We're all impacted by so many things in our lives, and there are so many things that happen that can affect us in different ways.  When September 11th happened in 2001, the effect of the tragedy and disaster was not wholly lost on me, but at the time I was a little self-absorbed by some things I was going through personally.  So when the 5-year anniversary came around, I was ripe for being impacted, albeit after-the-fact.  All of the documentaries, the footage, the sights and sounds, the intense horror, the intense heroism...all of it came crashing down around me (no pun intended) and made a personal, undeniable mark on my soul and psyche.  I was bathed in tears at watching movies like "United 93" and watching a DVD called "CNN Remembers".  In particular, the 343 firefighters that were lost had a serious impact on my emotions.  Granted, we lost thousands of souls that day.  I'm not obsessed with the death and tragedy of it all; I'm deeply in honor of the gargantuan heroism and bravery shown in the face of absolute shock and terror.  I have since had the highest respect and honor for heroes, namely the New York firefighters, the Port Authority police, the NYPD, and the Emergency Services Personnel and civilians who raced into those burning buildings to save lives.  I will never forget hearing about the one woman who asked "What chance do we have when 19 of them [the terrorists] are willing to die for their cause?"  ...to which a nearby firefighter responded "We have every chance in the world, because 343 of our guys were willing to do the same."  WOW.

 

So, naturally, after planning my trip to New York, I bee-lined for Ground Zero on Friday night.  I arrived in New York at about 5pm Friday night and caught a cab to my hotel.  I instantly hopped on the subway and made my way down to Ground Zero, stopping in Times Square briefly on the way to catch a different train.  I arrived at the World Trade Center site at about 8:30 Friday night, and it was snowing.  The area is still under construction for the new buildings and the memorial that are being built, but I was struck by the quietness and solemn silence surrounding the site - still - after 7 years.  I walked the entire perimeter, and though I couldn't see much due to the dark, I saw what I needed.  I went around Vesey Street, Church Street, Liberty Street, and West Street.  I visited the FDNY department there, "Ten House" as its known, and rang the buzzer.  The unsuspecting firefighter who greeted me was probably as unprepared as I was for this strange, teary-eyed visitor from Seattle who just wanted to thank him for his service.  I could tell he was busy, but I got a chance to tell him how much he and the firefighters' heroism meant to me, and we went our separate ways.  I then proceeded back north on Church Street and rounded up Vesey Street, and heard a noise that caught me off guard.  All the machinists and machinery there were busy at work, even at 8:30 and 9pm at night, so there was a whir of activity and noises.  But as I rounded Vesey Street, I heard a noise that sounded distinctly like the noises heard from the rubble 7 years ago - the alternating high-pitched wail of firefighters' life monitors screaming out their location as they lay motionless in the rubble.  That beacon still haunts me, and I broke into solemn tears right there.  Yes, I was snapping pictures and hugging the fence, but through it all I was struck by how quiet and sad it was even through that.  I wanted to connect - I wished desperately that there was something I could have done to make it right.  I wished that there was a real-life Superman who could have been fluttering about Manhattan that day.  But maybe we wouldn't have seen all the bravery and courage.

 

With all due respect to your own political views concerning 9/11, and to what extent it impacted you, it was a great blow to this nation and a vicious and unexpected attack on our homeland.  Through the terror of it all - and I can still see those planes flying into those buildings fresh in my mind - there arose a brave 343 firefighters, 23 NYPD officers, 37 Port Authority police, etc., to try and save the 2823 people who died there, including the 92 who died in the American Airlines Flight 11 there, as well as the 65 United Airlines Flight 175 passengers.  This doesn't even include the heroic (and I mean, HEROIC) 45 passengers of United Flight 93 who - in my humble opinion - averted another national attack, the 64 passengers of American Airlines Flight 77 that crashed into the Pentagon and the other 125 killed there.  The toll is still staggering, and to many, it is our modern-day Pearl Harbor.

 

Again, with respect to your own feelings and opinions concerning 9/11, it remains a national tragedy, and I have been deeply impacted for life.  I think we regard the wrong types of heroes in this world: sports heroes, movie stars, jocks, athletes, celebrities, etc..  Our real heroes, including those fallen on 9/11, are parents, teachers, rescue workers like the firefighters, missionaries, pastors, leaders, etc..  There were a good many lost that day, and there are still a good many lost every day.

 

I'm not obsessed with 9/11, but it remains graven in my psyche as something that was so tremendously horrific and yet gave a tremendous amount of people an opportunity to show bravery in the face of true peril.  I salute them, as I saluted the NYPD officer outside the World Trade Center Tribute Center on Liberty Street, just south of the World Trade Center.  I cried with my face in my hands inside the Tribute Center as the pictures of those lost were still up - as I beheld a ripped fireman's jacket and dinted helmet encased forever in glass, as I beheld a melted, scarred & rusted airplane window frame preserved in honor, as I poured over ALL THOSE NAMES on the wall at each tragic site...and as I beheld the "eternal scroll" on the wall - the projected names of all those lost scrolling, by affiliation, off into the distance, merging into the white light of those who have gone before.  You can't help but feel helpless as you sit and stare at the gravity around you.

 

It was a monumental trip.  I went up to the top of the Empire State Building and looked south at downtown Manhattan...I took the ferry out and stared up at the Statue of Liberty looking across the water...I stared up at her beautiful green face and realized that I take a lot for granted.  I also realized that my own problems, while certainly not minutiae, are dwarfed by the problems that still plague those who lost fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, sons, daughters, relatives, friends, in this awful event.

 

This journey was something I have needed to do for a long time, and I was INCREDIBLY blessed to have been able to go.

 

I created a tribute DVD of my trip - there are laughter and tears in there, and it has been created with pride.  Featuring video clips, photos set to music, personal reflections and more, this is a DVD that was meant for YOU, to inspire you, uplift you, remind you, and motivate you.  It was produced with much passion, love, and tears.

 

75% of the proceeds from these DVD's will go towards funding the United Airlines Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, PA, the World Trade Center Memorial in New York City, and the Pentagon Memorial in Washington DC. 

 

It was such a powerful, epic journey, and I was SO blessed to have gone: it was a spiritual pilgrimage, and a touchstone of emotion.

 

Sincerely,

Ryan Graves,

Seattle WA

 

DVD Running Time: 53 minutes ∙ Format: NTSC

DVD price: $20.  Shipping: $2.50

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