One World Trade Center under construction. Almost forgotten

Construction site Dec. 2009. Photo from Wikimedia Commons. See below.

Listening to BBC News about the Ground Zero area, I heard in passing, that Freedom Tower was being built.

Why haven't we heard much about this?

The term Ground Zero conjures up images of a bomb crater. Does mainstream media just focus on negative?

So I went to Google.

Yes, Freedom Tower is being built, but it's real name is One World Trade Center. Will be the tallest building in America at 1,776 Ft. Impressive. Projected completion in 2013.

More attention is being paid to the 13 story Park51 cultural center; that place which people mistakenly call a mosque, near by.

Well, Manhattan is characterized as a dense urban environment so there is going to be great diversity of things nearby. That's what density and US cities tend to be.

My guess is the Port Authority of New York, which owns the land under One World Trade Center, is making it the tallest US building, in part, to prove that fear of terrorism shouldn't dictate what's built there.

I say hurray for the new building.

Actually hurray for both buildings. The big building at One World Trade Center and the little one at Park51 a few blocks away. 13 stories is "little" by New York standards.

Rather than complaining about an Islamic center near the World Trade Center site in New York City where so many things are crammed together, one might think Americans would be more upset that we don't have the tallest building in the world. One World Trade Center will be the tallest in USA, but the world's tallest prize goes to Dubai, in United Arab Emirates. That's where the impressive Burj Khalifa resides. At 2,717 Ft., Burj Khalifa is the tallest structure on Earth. By the way, it's in a place where Islam is the main religion so I think that must raise a few eyebrows.

Oh well, look what petrodollars can build. It doesn't bother me as I can appreciate a great accomplishment, but I still have a fondness for my own country of USA.

In keeping with a WASP (white Anglo Saxon protestant) tradition of modesty, I'll point out that One World Trade Center will not even be the tallest structure in USA. Yes, it will be the tallest habitable building, but North Dakota, of all places, holds the tallest structure.

North Dakota? Where's that? People might ask.

KVLY TV mast. Photo from Wikimedia Commons.

It's out there in the great plains between US states of Montana and Minnesota. That's where KVLY TV mast resides. 2,063 Ft. tall.

KVLY, is a Fargo TV station. Tower somewhere between Fargo and Grand Forks North Dakota. Said to be near a little place called Blanchard. Not where one might expect to find the tallest structure in USA. Its the second tallest tower in the world.

We do hear a lot of heated rhetoric these days, but America is still a good country. Part of its greatness is the diversity of its landscapes. From seemingly empty plains of North Dakota to the crowded streets of Manhattan where just about everything and everybody are in close proximity, America still offers a lot.