May 30, 2002

The cleanup of Ground Zero was completed.

Original estimates of the clean-up time were way off, which is not surprising, due to the level of devastation. Cleanup finished way way ahead of schedule.

I was there that day, for the ceremony, which began at 10:29 a.m., which was when the second tower collapsed. Words can’t describe the energy present down there at Ground Zero on that morning. To be in a massive crowd, with not one person speaking, no bustling, no murmurs, nothing to break the quiet. Quiet in New York City? Is that possible? It was deadly quiet that morning during the cermony. There were no speeches, nothing. No words at all. Just a deep sense of solemnity, and a bell ringing to commemorate the moment.

I stood in the crowd, around what had been – only months before – a smoking hole in the ground – with unbelievable destruction. You could smell it in the air from across the river – the burning smell of death. The cleanup had happened with amazing dispatch, bucking all of the estimates. Like: damn, dudes, they just got the job DONE.