FOCAL POINT STYLING: 911

Everyone deals with mourning or tragedy differently. And yes, time does help to heal the sorrow of loss, but it can never fill the void. It's hard to believe, twelve years have past since that fateful day -- from recovery to rebuilding. This year, while going thru my yearly morning of 911 remembrance, I came across this statement that in my opinion basically sums up the reality of September 11, 2001 every year... “What separates us from the animals, what separates us from the chaos, is our ability to mourn people we’ve never met.” - Author, David Levithan. May God Bless America - and the world - to keep people safe from harm and filled with the hope that peace will prevail...

911 Memorial - Healing Fields, Tempe Arizona 9.11.2012

WTC Beam - Chandler Firehouse, 9.11.2012

Towers Of Light - Ground Zero - 9.11.2011

911 Ribbon Wall - Battery Park 9.11.2011

911 Memorial Parade - 5th Avenue & St. Patrick's Cathedral - NYC 9.11.2011

911 Pentagon Memorial 2008

Ground Zero 9.12.2002

9.12.2002

Twin Towers 8.16.2001

NYCLQ

Steps of the Federal Building - Wall Street - Just before walking over to WTC to go to the top - the roof of the South Tower 8.16.2001

My favorite photo of the Twins...

"Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind." - Henry James

#NEVERFORGET

It's a rainy and somber day here in Arizona... quite a bit of a contrast to this day last year. Last year, Jeff and I went to NYC for the 10 year anniversary of 911. Reflecting back on the day, I've been sharing many of the photos on my Facebook wall, and I wanted to share a few here on the blog. Each year it seems, people seem to be remembering less and less, which kind of scares me. Isn't that disconnect or desensitizing how the events on 911 happened to begin with? Be that as it may, here are some of the images I captured from the day spent in NYC on September 11, 2011...

The day began in Midtown, at the steps of St. Patrick's Cathedral. Many of the streets were empty (probably because it was a Sunday). I wrote in my journal and just reflected back on the moments. The city was different than it was for the first year anniversary. Back then, every window display was for 911. This time, I think I only spotted two (probably because now this time of year is focused on Fashion's Nite Out). From St. Patrick's, we walked up to and around Central Park and up to the NY Historical Society to view a 911 installation. We later took the NY Waterway to Downtown to Battery Park and walked around. I wrote and added a ribbon to the city's Ribbon's of Hope wall. Afterwards, we took a cab to the 911 Museum Workshop where we not only met the official photographer of Groundzero, but we were able to hold some of the artifacts from there - like a crucifix made the the recovered steel. Making our way back up to Mid-Town, we were able to see the march of NYPD and NYFD down 5th Avenue. In the evening, after dinner, we went back downtown which was actually a last minute dissension from Jeff and I'm grateful for it. Being at the WTC site at night on September 11 had an entirely different feel and mood - it felt more as if it was the locals...