A Thought to "Ground Zero"

Suzanne Berne's theme of her essay "Ground Zero" is to reflect a piece of devastating history in her words, seeing it through her eyes.She is explaining what it is to see nothing, only to find it is in fact something; it is absence. She says, "This is the moment when absences begins to assume a material form, when what is not there becomes visible." Her tone suggests that this catastrophic event, this place she is visiting brings people together in a time of need, in a time confusion where everyone is trying to make sense of what has occurred. Berne first sets the mood by saying it was a "cold, damp March morning" paying her respects to the people who used to come to work everyday, until the day they didn't come; the day when there was no place to go with many other people from all over the country, and the world. The paragraph about ground zero looking like a construction site is symbolic to the spirits of thousands of Americans, coming together to build hope and spread patriotism. She shares with her fellow onlookers the sense of confusion and she assumes they try to "superimpose" the images from television and newspapers to the emptiness that lay ahead. I preferred this piece to Momaday's "The Way to Rainy Mountain" because I felt it was more alive, like I could be standing next to Berne my mouth agape as i stood staring at the horror before me. This might be because This event is something most all Americans can coincide with, as opposed to a culture many have never even heard of. Her last paragraph stood out to me the most; how she takes note that everyone there witnessing the scene with her can be there for a multiple of reasons, but that they are all there "repopulating" the site once more.