April 3, 2006--It's Time
I know that I will be irrevocably assigning myself to the Ninth Circle of Hell by even going here, but I am close to having had enough with all the swirling agenda about what to do at the site of the Twin Towers that were destroyed on 9/11.
I've had it with the bickering about which arts institutions to locate there, if they should or shouldn’t charge admissions, and what they will and will not be allowed to display; which architectural designs are appropriate for the buildings and memorials; I am nauseated that the realtor Larry Silverstein's greed is holding up the construction of the Freedom Tower; and yes even with some of the families and colleagues of the victims who are now fighting about the order in which to list the names of those who died there. (See NY Times story below about this latter battle.)
The current plan says that since the deaths were random and arbitrary, the names should be listed in random order to reflect this. Some families and colleagues of victims want to have all the firefighters and EMS workers and police who were killed to be listed within groups that reflect their service and sacrifice. In those instances where more than one family member died, surviving relatives want them listed together.
Others want names to include the floors they were on when the planes struck, and still others have family members who feel their relatives who were killed would want to have their names listed with the companies for which they were working. The father of one fireman killed on 9/11 wants his son’s memorial to read “F.F Michael F. Lynch, Badge No. 2315, Engine 40-Ladder 35, on rotation from Engine 62-Ladder 32.”
Though I have close connections to a few who were victims I fortunately did not lose a close friend or relative on 9/11. So whatever I might be saying needs to be viewed in that light. But I do feel that this tragedy befell all of us, of course especially on those killed and their families. And therefore though we should continue to be sensitive to the emotions and desires of those who lost loved ones, they should not have the power to determine how the site should be rebuilt and the victims remembered. No more than the families of those killed in Vietnam determined how that war was to be memorialized.
It turned out that the Vietnam Memorial became an important and appropriate way of remembering that war and honoring those killed--both for the immediate families and the rest of us. Perhaps we can learn something from that and get on with the healing and rebuilding.
It’s time.
One more perhaps insensitive comment—I know some families who lost relatives who privately have said to me that they want to move on with their lives, while never forgetting who they lost. They feel that this is being impeded by those families who lost people who have made what happened that day and what needs to be done now the center of their entire lives. Those who have said this to me want to be released from the obligation and pressure they are experiencing. They want to remember but also to begin to forget and not feel compelled to define themselves as victims for the rest of their lives.
I've had it with the bickering about which arts institutions to locate there, if they should or shouldn’t charge admissions, and what they will and will not be allowed to display; which architectural designs are appropriate for the buildings and memorials; I am nauseated that the realtor Larry Silverstein's greed is holding up the construction of the Freedom Tower; and yes even with some of the families and colleagues of the victims who are now fighting about the order in which to list the names of those who died there. (See NY Times story below about this latter battle.)
The current plan says that since the deaths were random and arbitrary, the names should be listed in random order to reflect this. Some families and colleagues of victims want to have all the firefighters and EMS workers and police who were killed to be listed within groups that reflect their service and sacrifice. In those instances where more than one family member died, surviving relatives want them listed together.
Others want names to include the floors they were on when the planes struck, and still others have family members who feel their relatives who were killed would want to have their names listed with the companies for which they were working. The father of one fireman killed on 9/11 wants his son’s memorial to read “F.F Michael F. Lynch, Badge No. 2315, Engine 40-Ladder 35, on rotation from Engine 62-Ladder 32.”
Though I have close connections to a few who were victims I fortunately did not lose a close friend or relative on 9/11. So whatever I might be saying needs to be viewed in that light. But I do feel that this tragedy befell all of us, of course especially on those killed and their families. And therefore though we should continue to be sensitive to the emotions and desires of those who lost loved ones, they should not have the power to determine how the site should be rebuilt and the victims remembered. No more than the families of those killed in Vietnam determined how that war was to be memorialized.
It turned out that the Vietnam Memorial became an important and appropriate way of remembering that war and honoring those killed--both for the immediate families and the rest of us. Perhaps we can learn something from that and get on with the healing and rebuilding.
It’s time.
One more perhaps insensitive comment—I know some families who lost relatives who privately have said to me that they want to move on with their lives, while never forgetting who they lost. They feel that this is being impeded by those families who lost people who have made what happened that day and what needs to be done now the center of their entire lives. Those who have said this to me want to be released from the obligation and pressure they are experiencing. They want to remember but also to begin to forget and not feel compelled to define themselves as victims for the rest of their lives.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
11:22 AM
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