photo friday: the sad place

      For all those who were lost,
             For all those who were stolen,
        For all those who were left behind,
               For all those who were not forgotten

African Burial Ground, Lower Manhattan, New York City. 

© 2012 Amber Schley Iragui

St Paul's Chapel, established 1766, with the Freedom Towers rising above the 9/11 Memorial in the background. © 2012 Amber Schley Iragui

 Outside the 9/11 Memorial, with the top of my son's head.
© 2012 Amber Schley Iragui

Bellevue Hospital, NYC, where Charles' best friend died of cancer last year.
© 2012 Amber Schley Iragui

Trinity Cemetery, the only remaining active cemetery in Manhattan.

© 2012 Amber Schley Iragui

I am drawn to broken things—to heartache and scars. And although I've discovered my own strength most keenly in pain, I was drawn to sad things long before my own life had dealt me much of it. Even as a child I sensed that people who had suffered much carried far greater strength than those who had not, it was as if their pain endowed them with extra eyes and and broader, kinder hands. And as I grew I learned from experience that the human spirit, stripped of pretense and falsity, is often revealed as the beautiful and resilient creature it is. Looking directly at the sad places, things from which other people may want to avert their gaze, gives me courage.

The photos here were all taken on Sunday, when our family took a trip tour of "sad places" in Manhattan. We had absolutely no luck getting into any of them.

Our first stop, the African Burial Ground, a memorial for the recently discovered remains of more than 400 free and enslaved Africans buried in the 17th and 18th centuries, was closed for renovations. In addition, menacing signs warned that the premises had been poisoned. I stuck my camera under the barricade nonetheless and managed to capture the memorial with a reflection of the sky and clouds.

The historical graveyards at both St Paul's Chapel and Trinity Church on Wall Street were already closed for the day. But from the former I was able to capture not only the old historic building and the ancient graves around it, but the new Freedom Towers being built on the site of Ground Zero.

We didn't realize you have to schedule your visit the 9/11 Memorial online beforehand, so we just mingled with the tourists for a bit outside the site. We then drove up to the Marble Cemetery on Second Street, which was not surprisingly closed. From there we drove up First Avenue past Bellevue Hospital where Charles' best friend Valerie Fry died last year of cancer. She was only 41.

Our last stop was the large Trinity Cemetery not far from our home. It was also closed, but we walked around the deserted streets bordering it for awhile as the sky darkened. It is the only remaining active cemetery in Manhattan. It was time to go home.

Next week's Photo Friday theme, in honor of the end of it, is summer. It needs no explanation.