I've been in the WTC before. Those building are so massive; it's hard to believe they're gone, and it's hard to imagine where they would all go. I worked in the 75-floor Chase Tower in Houston, and the WTC absolutely dwarfs that. Each tower, in addition to being 35 floors taller, probably had building sides that were twice as long as Chase Tower, effectively giving each WTC floor four times as much area as Chase Tower, multiplied by 50% more floors, multiplied by two towers, plus additional other surrounding buildings, and that is a lot of destruction.

It's hard to really believe they, and so many in them, are gone. Will they be rebuilt? Should they be rebuilt? Would any lender ever provide financing for something that could so easily be another symbolic target such as these were made out to be?

on July 4th, I took along road trip to New York to visit an old friend who had just had a baseball-sized tumor taken out of his head (thank God it seems he will be OK). As I flew up the Jersey Tunpike in my A4 in the early holiday morning, I was wondering how far away I was my destination, when I saw some buildings starting to peak over the horizon. Immediately I knew I was there when the unmistakeable twin towers emerged into view. I rememeber thinking how unimaginably huge they always seemed (I had to come back to make this past tense) when you saw the skyline from afar. They always looked like they were going to drag the whole tip of the island into the harbor.

I still can't fathom them being gone now and have rarely been so disturbed as when my housemate gave me his eyewitness account via IM of how amidst a crowd of screaming and crying strangers, he watched in horror as one by one they were swallowed up by the earth - transformed into a tomb for an unimaginable number of souls.

the 80's. I was in mgt. training with Chase in '73 and worked in its branch there for a while. The Towers were fairly vacant for years then. We used to brown bag lunch and take the elevators up to the 100th floor or so.. sit on the empty floors and take in the view while eating. Think of the security issues today!! Being in the securities business I've been in both towers dozens of times over the years and have many friends and business acquaintances there that I'm very worried about today. I even took my wife and stepkids back there for a trip last year and had lunch at Windows, etc. They are pretty freaked today too. There but for the grace of God....

I can't imagine they would rebuild the towers. Who would work there?? And, they would be target #1 the day they were occupied. I'd like to see a memorial mall in that space. Perhaps with a small building housing a memorial and a some peaceful purpose foundation. I understand the WTC was just sold to a private owner. Wonder if the insurance will be a problem. There are usually carve outs for acts of war or terrorism. We'll see.

You either HAVE or you HAVEN'T. =)

I've never been up it, but I've always admired the late WTC Twiin Towers. Everytime NYC is mentioned, I always think of the Twin Towers. No doubt I'm now shocked that they're now just.... gone.

lobby

I remember my parents taking me to the top when I was a little kid. The last time I was up there was six years ago with some friends.

The sight of looking up at them, when standing directly in between them, was truly awesome. It sort of made me dizzy.

The NYC skyline is amazing by itself but the twin towers always stood out because they're surrounded by much smaller buildings. Most of the very tall buildings in NYC are located Mid-town (ie: Empire State, Chrysler), so the twin towers were by themselves and quite noticeable in lower Manhatten. The two buildings I could always spot in the NYC skyline were the WTC and the Empire State Building. It's going to be weird now whenever I drive to the airport or New Jersey and not see them anymore. It's sort of like the gates to NYC have been torn down.

The terrorists may tear down our buildings, but they'll never tear down the American spirit.