17 years ago, the world was rocked by what had seemed the greatest travesty mankind had known. No, it wouldn’t suffice to call it just carnage. No, it wouldn’t suffice to call it merely a vitriolic act of terrorism. There are tragedies. And then there are tragedies caused by the 9/11 mayhem.
Probably, there may be a bigger event than the 9/11 tragedies in the course of the future. Who knows what the future might bring? But no act of terrorism purported anywhere in the world was as polarised, debated, discussed, bemoaned, critiqued as it impacted mankind’s psyche than the 9/11.
It shook man’s belief in one of his own peoples. It brought despair. It brought the world to a standstill and, shook the spine of the greatest power in the world: the United States of America. As an after-effect of 9/11, there were a lot many infrastructural, political, and economic changes. But in a tiny fragment, so to speak, there came about a change in the epicentre of this colossal event: New York.
This was to be a situation that not many would’ve experienced any glee out of.
It so happened that what had hitherto- circa September 11, 2001, been a regularly used subway station in New York- Cortlandt Street- got buried under the wake of the disaster. It wasn’t really known as to when would the famous Cortland Street subway station reopen and just how? Several doubts lingered on. And there weren’t any answers.
Well, now, things are changing and finally, one can spot the colloquial light at the end of this tunnel. After spending 17 years in absolute obscurity, the erstwhile popular Cortland Street Subway Station has reopened and is already experiencing full operational flow in New York.
Can there be a greater proof of man’s ability to bounce back and the epitome of the quintessential American spirit?
What is most interesting about the story is that not only has this former, frequently-used subway station reopened just days before the 17th anniversary of the tumultuous events of 2001 but also that it’s once again operational at the very same spot where it had gotten buried.
This is just a stone’s throw away from the spot where the Twin Towers once stood. How incredible is that? Rather, can there be anything else as fascinating as the story of the Cortlandt Street’s resuscitation?
Popular Indian media outlet NDTV shared the following in regards with the inspiring reopening of the Cortlandt Street subway station:
People cheered, clapped and held their phones up to record the event as a train rolled to a stop, video footage from the subway station showed.
The Cortlandt stop reopened on Saturday on the Number One line in what The New York Times described as “the last major piece in the city’s quest to rebuild what was lost.”
But for a subway station that remained buried several feet under the ground as a result of the befalling of the towers to once again rise and be fully-functional, there possibly cannot be another story more humanising and riveting than this. What do you think?