KESSLER: In shadow of Ground Zero, a lesson in resiliency

Sun Chronicle

Wednesday, September 5, 2007 1:00 AM EDT


A trip to New York City for the fifth reunion of my youngest daughter's Chinese adoption group provided some much needed perspective on the immigration debate that continues to rage in this country.

It was a small, but spirited, group of young 6-year-old girls who got together in parts of historic New York. They gathered to do things that little girls do - giggle, play, run around, talk and eat. But they also did three things that I found quite extraordinary and quintessentially American. Just five years removed from their young lives in China - all were about 1 or a little older when they first came to these shores - they were fortunate to do the following:
Spend a Saturday afternoon picnicking in the Battery Park area in the shadow of Ground Zero.

Dine on Saturday night at a Chinese restaurant in the Battery Park area that offered a direct view of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

Take a Sunday morning cruise along the Hudson River that brought us within picture-op distance of the Statue of Liberty. A few pictures that will appear on holiday cards this year were snapped that day.

Each of those activities would have been pleasant - and inspiring - enough, given the history of immigration that one finds along this area of New York City, but they seemed even more impressive given the fact that they occurred close to Ground Zero. Indeed, one of the parents and her sister had just closed on a place not too far from the World Trade Center days before Sept. 11, and their memories of that day and the aftermath remain vivid.

The events of that chillingly unforgettable day made it even more remarkable to walk around the Battery Park area in the financial district, with its network of parks, which drew a lot of families and kids playing on a brilliant late-June Saturday afternoon, a day when the weather could have aptly been described as picture-perfect without being considered a cliché.

Our walk that day took us to the World Finance Center, a glass-enclosed building with an atrium that had been leveled on Sept. 11, but which was completely rebuilt. On that particular afternoon, children from New York schools were engaged in a ballroom dance contest. As the children danced in front of a packed house of friends and family members, tourists and New Yorkers alike milled about in the shopping areas.

If you didn't know any better, it would have been hard to suspect that anything had ever gone tragically wrong almost six years ago next Tuesday - that is until strolling to the top of the building and peering out of the huge picture window, which revealed Ground Zero.

On this particular Saturday, the massive site, which was bathed in magnificent sunlight, resembled a construction zone more than a flashpoint for a national tragedy that killed nearly 3,000 people. Yet, the site clearly was the latter more than the former, and it was easy to get goosebumps just looking at it. That feeling was reinforced after being told that one of the hotels in the shadow of Ground Zero, the Millennium, had not been touched on that fateful day. It was spared, just as devastating tornadoes sometimes leave nearby structures intact even while destroying everything else in their wake.

After staring at Ground Zero for several minutes, our walking tour continued, eventually coming to a spot that included fountains dug out in the rocks and a giant slide for kids to play in.

Such resiliency was inspiring.

In the evening, we were acutely aware of the rich history around us as we dined while looking out at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, the same landmarks that so many immigrants, including the grandparents of some of these girls' parents, had seen when they first came to this country. The girls' links to those quintessential American landmarks were reinforced during our harbor cruise the next day.

All in all, it was a weekend worth celebrating, and a weekend that made an incredibly powerful statement about the upside of immigration, and why our country must remain open to new people.

LARRY KESSLER is a Sun Chronicle local news editor. He can be reached at 508-236-0330 or at lkessler@thesunchronicle.com.