Sometimes it feels like it was only yesterday that the Twin Towers came crashing down, changing lives and New York’s skyline forever … just yesterday that billions of tons of steel, concrete and other building materials came tumbling down on to the streets of Manhattan.

There are more details that can be shared, such as the countless lives lost and destroyed by terrorists on Sept. 11, but meticulous description is as needless as shooting an already dead horse.

We all know what happened that day, we all watched it on TV. We saw the plane crash into the second tower, we witnessed people fall out of the buildings and we watched in terror as the buildings fell with a sound reminiscent of the fury of God, or something much less holy. We all know the story of Sept. 11, much better than many of us want to know it.

It has now been more than 16 months since Osama bin Laden’s assassins attacked our country. If time heals all wounds, a bundle of Americans are on their way to a full recovery. Throw on top of that a seemingly imminent war with Iraq, who harbors those pesky terrorists, and you have a nation that is starting to feel pretty darn good.

At least, that is what architects hope. And to help with that soothing and healing process, they are making plans for what to build on the site where sons, daughters, mothers, fathers and friends perished.

I know that makes me feel so much better.

Rebuilding the towers is perhaps less obscene than the Florida entrepreneur selling trading cards of the victims of Sept. 11 and easily less offensive than the American flag thong I saw in stores that appeared with the resurgence of patriotism, but it by no means settles pleasantly with me. The notion of making profit off a site where sweat, tears and most of all blood metaphorically stained the ground leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

Despite my reservations on the matter, plans are already being discussed by New Yorkers. Last night several proposals were considered, and more will be reviewed tonight. In total, nine different designs are being taken into consideration. Four of the nine proposals call for twin towers. It is expected that city residents will make their decision by the end of February.

Some of the structures proposed are unbelievable. One calls for a single, record-breaking tower that soars to 1,776 ft. That not only breaks the current world record for the tallest tower, but it crushes it by almost 300 ft. The Petronas Towers of Kuala Lampur, Malaysia (as seen on the movie “Entrapment”) are measured at 1,483 ft. with 88 stories.

Right on the heels of the Petronas Towers is Chicago’s own pride and joy, the Sears Tower. It stands 1,450 ft. Before terrorists took a joyride into New York’s World Trade Center, the Twin Towers were tied for fifth at a height of 1,368 ft. each

Even some of the twin-tower structures proposed are climbing to ridiculous heights. The team of Peterson/Littenberg has proposed twins that extend 1,400 ft., ranking them a healthy fourth and fifth on the world height-o-meter.

The desire to rebuild the towers is starting to resemble a vie for a better self-image. Howard Decker, chief curator for the National Building Museum in Washington D.C., apparently agrees with such sentiments. He told CNN that “The desire to build tall buildings is an old desire. The motivations for it are complicated. Commerce. Capitalism. Ego.”

It seems with Americans that everything relates back to ego. The issue of what to do with Ground Zero is starting to resemble little boys proclaiming that theirs is bigger. Whoever has the biggest phallic symbol — I mean skyscraper — wins. Americans just want to be the best.

Granted, there is nothing wrong with wanting to outdo the whole world. But being the best has consequences, as seen on Sept. 11. Whatever is built on Ground Zero will forever be a target of anti-American sentiments. The taller the tower, the harder it falls — the World Trade Center towers demonstrated that concept. And the higher it breaks from the city’s average skyline, the easier it is to fly planes into. We build bigger towers, our enemies will build bigger weapons of destruction.

Ground Zero is inevitably going to be built on. In time, a memorial should be constructed to honor those citizens, including the officers who risked their lives to save others. There is no need to place a vulnerable skyscraper where one was already demolished.

Repairing the New York skyline is not going to heal the wounds created 16 months ago. There is no Band-Aid that can be placed over the wound, no medicine to truly dull the emotional hurt it caused. Building structures with the same faults of the trade towers, such as height issues, are not going to bring back those lost.

Ayrel Clark

is a sophomore in journalism

and mass communication from Johnston. She is the opinion editor of the Daily.