RAI Corporation Internship Program

I still remember an afternoon of nine years ago - on September 11, 2001 - when I was a teenager, just 16 years old, ready to enjoy the last moments of a summer spent playing soccer every day in my dear hometown, Salerno. It was an afternoon like many others: I was watching TV after lunch when I saw my brother coming in the living room to tell us the news. My father, my aunt and I were completely speechless looking at the terrible images of the terrorist attack against the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center, the symbol of the United States’ economic power. My brother Marco was able to see when the second airplane crashed into one of the towers and he realized that this was not a movie. Everything was real. After an hour watching the breaking news on TV, we witnessed the death of about 3.000 innocent lives. Since that day, year after year, I grew up dreaming of New York, hoping to live in this city and in this huge country, the United States of America, which has been shaping most of my dreams and hopes. Nobody could have predicted that on September 11, 2010 - nine years later - I would have been in New York City working as an intern at Rai Corporation to cover the anniversary of that tragic and historic day. The commemoration took place along with the rallies against the project to build a Mosque a few blocks from Ground Zero, and I helped a RAI cameraman to cover those rallies. That evening, I went to my cousin’s house in New Jersey from where I saw two lights up in the sky. I immediately understood what it was about: the Twin Towers were living again thanks to a “Tribute in Light” shining in the dark. My first (american) 9/11 was going to end along with those lights set for just one night, the night before a new dawn.

Paolo Massa

www.paolomassa.blogspot.com