Isn’t It Romantic?

If a picture is worth a thousand words, what could make the current situation more dramatically clear than the images above? The one on the left captures the romance of the most romantic city in the most romantic country in the world. Some will dispute that claim, but most will agree that in a world of fabulously romantic places, New York outranks them all. That is a reality that registers across cultural, racial, and economic lines. Most people just get it. In clear contrast, what could be more unromantic than the sterile, generic project pictured on the right? The young men whose videos are posted on our “Lost Causes” page know that instinctively, which is what inspired them to create such terrific pieces.

The image on the left epitomizes the glorious, stirring, soaring energy that built this city and country. For those who were born after the Towers were already standing: “Isn’t It Romantic” was a song that defined the generation that won the Second World War, reached for the moon, and built the Twin Towers. It has been called “the perfect song.” It was written during the Great Depression and gives expression to the spirit we especially need now, if we are going to overcome the dark challenges before us. Nothing could be more frightening than the threats that generation triumphed over, and they did it with collective idealism and courage and grace — qualities that have so much more raw power than cynicism and fear.

At the bottom of the page we share a couple of videos that magically convey what we can only try to describe. The reason for using videos more and more often is because they slip past the gatekeepers to the brain. People who support this cause are not smarter or better than those who do not. They just happen to be awake to the possibilities and we think that many of those who do not see what we see are on the verge of waking up to it, too. After spending almost a trillion dollars to bail out official arrogance and compounded errors in judgment, what better place could there be to start bailing out mistakes before they become colossal? Nothing is so wrong with being wrong as refusing to admit it. That’s where the real damage comes in.

Government of, by, and for the people is romantic. Officials who use their power wisely is romantic. Refusing to allow terrorists to alter the most famous skyline in the world is romantic. KSM & Co. watching the Twin Towers rise outside their prison walls is romantic. Realizing that there is nothing standing in the way but an unbelievably unromantic project (that is being built with the public’s money against the public’s wishes) is romantic. Living in a city and country where not even the sky is the limit is romantic.

Two years ago it was no more likely that Barack Obama would be elected President in 2008 than that the Twin Towers would rise again. Maybe less likely. It makes no difference if one is a fan of the President or not, he showed us what suspending disbelief can do — what could be more American? So let’s take it further: What could be more romantic, two decades after 9/11, than New York hosting the 2020 Summer Olympics? What could be more romantic than the games that are dedicated to world peace and cooperation being played in sight of the Twin Towers that were dedicated from their birth to those very ideals, that were destroyed because of how well they succeeded, and that finally went on to triumph over death?

What could be more romantic than an Olympic stadium, city, and marina, just a few minutes from Newark Airport, with water taxis crisscrossing the harbor and the Statue of Liberty and Twin Towers there to bless the event? What could be a more perfect 20-20 vision than that? With the Twin Towers rising, other cities would be unlikely to even compete for the honor. It would be the transformative global event of the century. In the land of happy endings, rebuilding the Twin Towers would be the ultimate happily-ever-after — not just for those of us who support it now, but for everyone, the world as a whole, and the generations to come.

After the games, it would all stay in place to support the world’s premiere convention and exhibition center at the World Trade Center. Exhibitors would arrive on the I-95 corridor or at Newark/Liberty and get ferried right to the convention dock. The current dismay over a glut of office space would be relieved because a significant amount of the space would be devoted to transient enterprise. At the top of the Twin Towers, instead of offices, there would be the ultra-prime residences of those who create their own economic atmosphere. The conventional office space that remains would be too valuable to be occupied by government tenants.

The galleria would again be the world’s most profitable mall. Windows on the World would again be the world’s most profitable restaurant — but it would have a much better view of a dazzling Jersey skyline. And best of all, people could again make a trip to the Top of the World — and the outdoor Cafe W.O.W. at the top of Tower Two — the high point of their visit to New York or night on the town. Anyone who thinks any of this is possible with the current plan really must be asleep — nothing else could explain it.

The morbid nature of the current project is the reason that the “Freedom Towers” utterly failed to attract tenants or investors in all the economic boom years leading up to the current troubles. But when the proposed roar of the largest manmade waterfalls in North America is replaced with the lilt of the world’s largest carillon of orchestral bells and the fluttering flags of the nations that lost citizens on 9/11, we will have a memorial that is uplifting instead of depressing — finally a place of healing, instead of despair.

The renderings do not exist that can faithfully convey what a beautiful memorial it will be, but it has the blessing of many, perhaps most, 9/11 family members and much of the effort that has gone into the existing plans for the memorial and museum can be adapted without wasting time or money. Could anyone seriously prefer the current plan? Could anyone fail to be touched by this vision or want to stand in its way? Whatever resistance may exist, this is far too splendid a possibility and rewarding a prospect not to attract the sponsorship that can turn the troubled site into a truly legendary destination — a noble World Trade Center at last.

The video on the left, from “Love Me Tonight,” with words and music by Rodgers and Hart, has been called on of the best musicals of all-time, The video on the right is a collage of scenes from the movie “Sabrina” with “Isn’t It Romantic” sung by Rod Stewart.