Last November I visited Ground Zero, Manhattan. 10 years ago, thousands of people were murdered there for no good reason at all.
Since then, Omaha Beach has become a tranquil place of reflection, where only a few American flags, an abstract sculpture and some information panels hint at the deadly and atrocious battle that took place there.
Ground Zero is a hive of activity, with construction underway to mend the massive hole that 9/11 left in the Manhattan skyline and in the hearts of all Americans.
Nothing that could ever be built in either place could properly commemorate the tragic losses. It's not even possible to imagine them.
Thousands of people experienced the most terrifying day of their lives in those places.
In Normandy, the sound of ten thousand guns firing at once, the screaming, the shouting and the cries for help, the smell of death and fear, and the feeling that every movement could be your last. Every time you blinked, there was a chance you'd never open your eyes again.
In Manhattan, the smell of smoke, the site of people jumping from buildings, thoughts of your family and friends and the shock, the unbelievable shock that your world was not safe.
Thousands of people died in both of those places. There's no way that anyone could ever imagine exactly what that means. Thousands of people with lives, hopes, aspirations, jobs, families, friends, parents and children, died. Millions of people will never be born because of those two events.
Nothing could ever be built, done, written or said to properly convey the events that happened on September 11, but I'm glad people are trying.
I just hope that nothing like D-Day or 9/11 ever happens again. It's unlikely, but I'll keep hoping. I hope you do too.
Very good matty, travel broadens the mind, as they say.
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