超市有卖椰子油的吗:Crowds, Chaos and Some Closure at Ground Zero

There was perhaps no place more fitting to go than the place where itall began. As President Obama wrapped up his remarks, confirming thedeath of public enemy No.1, Osama bin Laden, a few people started togather at New York’s Ground Zero. They kept coming. By the time a manshimmied up a light post around midnight and sprayed bottles ofchampagne over the crowd, several hundred people had gathered.

The word for the night was “closure”. It sprung from almost everypersons’ lips who came to the hallowed ground of the World Trade Centerto mark an end of sorts to our nation’s most painful open wound. Whilecapturing bin Laden won’t likely change much of the operations ofal-Qaeda, tonight that didn’t matter. What mattered was the people whogathered to celebrate the conquering of the person who killed many ofthis city’s loved ones.

As everyone knows, in America, when the words are slow to come, thebooze pours freely. This colorful crowd, American flags draped aroundtheir necks, sang the national anthem, “God Bless the U.S.A.” and “America, the Beautiful” in spurts of unison. They chanted “USA! USA!USA!”, “Yes, We Can!” (the slogan of Obama’s 2008 campaign) and “Hey,hey, hey, goodbye.” “This is New York — this what we do,” said SonamVelani, a 23-year-old who lives just a few blocks from the site of the9/11 attack. “We come together to celebrate these things — even at twoin the morning.”

One man, wearing what can only be described as stunner shades, cladin an American flag hat and t-shirt, broadcast “Born in the USA,” on amakeshift boombox he held high above his head. Another man scrambled up apole to address the crowd: “I have something to say. You see what theenemy can do,” he said, gesturing at the empty hole where the TwinTowers once stood. “We will go further.”

As the hours ticked by, the usual antics were to be expected. Therewere the sellers hawking American flags for $5 a pop, the trampledcardboard cases of Keystone Light (evidence of the drunken college kidswho stumbled around looking for more) and the few who took things alittle too far, climbing things not meant to be climbed. But, in lookingfor the quieter ones, the people standing solemnly to the back of thecrowd, it was easy to spot those who had come to Ground Zero not for theboisterous celebration, but to reflect on the magnitude of the night.

Among them was Mickey Carroll, a 29-year-old firefighter from StatenIsland who lost his father, also a firefighter, on 9/11. He couldn’tquite sum up the emotions he felt. “It’s hard to explain. I feelanxious. I feel excited,” he said. “This is something that this country,these families, my family, has been waiting for for so long.”

Jamie Roman, a 17-years-old from Astoria, Queens who came to GroundZero with her mother, echoed that sentiment. Holding a T-Shirt tightlyto her chest, she fought tears as she remembered the man it memorized.She spoke of Christopher Santora, a close family friend, who at23-years-old was the youngest firefighter to have lost his life in theattacks.  “This is a little bit of closure,” she said. “We finally havesome peace in our lives.”