I watched some of the tenth anniversary coverage of the 9.11 memorial this past Sunday. I think they did a fabulous job with the memorial and would definitely travel to NY to see it in person. I remember the outpouring of love and support the US citizens felt from all over the world; I hope this memorial helps us to not only remember the lives lost in the tragedy but to remember the love and to understand the significance of acting out of love at all times. Terrorist acts such as this one can divide a nation and a world. But I believe that in the face of tragedy, we have to work harder to understand each other and to act with love and kindness instead of hating entire groups of people. http://www.911memorial.org/
The following excerpt is from the Memorial Jury’s January 2004 statement on selecting the 9.11 memorial design:
Of all the designs submitted, we have found that “Reflecting Absence” by Michael Arad, in concert with landscape architect Peter Walker, fulfills most eloquently the daunting but absolutely necessary demands of this memorial. In its powerful, yet simple articulation of the footprints of the Twin Towers, “Reflecting Absence” has made the voids left by the destruction the primary symbols of our loss. By allowing absence to speak for itself, the designers have made the power of these empty footprints the memorial. At its core, this memorial is anchored deeply in the actual events it commemorates-connecting us to the towers’ destruction, and more important, to all the lives lost on that day….
While the footprints remain empty, however, the surrounding plaza’s design has evolved to include beautiful groves of trees, traditional affirmations of life and rebirth. These trees, like memory itself, demand the care and nurturing of those who visit and tend them. They remember life with living forms, and serve as living representations of the destruction and renewal of life in their own annual cycles. The result is a memorial that expresses both the incalculable loss of life and its consoling regeneration.
