In May, I left Bend, Oregon to spend a week in New York. Like so many tourists, I stopped at the World Trade Center site to relive the memories of 9-11-01. I remember walking the perimeter and finding it difficult to sort out my feelings. Then I focused on these signs on the tall blue wall. In glaring orange, they expressed negative messages and warnings. Ironically this was located on Liberty Street. Likewise the crane in the background had the word America tilting . I asked myself whether this picture symbolized, what so many had written since 9-11, that our country had developed a paranoid, restrictive attitude toward liberty, and lost confidence in its goodness. Also I felt that the machinery, noise and foreboding barriers, interfered with my ability to generate a genuine feeling of tribute for those that died. When the signs are down and the equipment gone, maybe I'll feel comfortable with the place where humanity had been imperiled. For now, that terrible location and vision still lives in my memory. It wasn't at this place, not yet.
Friday, September 11, 2009
view from the ground
In May, I left Bend, Oregon to spend a week in New York. Like so many tourists, I stopped at the World Trade Center site to relive the memories of 9-11-01. I remember walking the perimeter and finding it difficult to sort out my feelings. Then I focused on these signs on the tall blue wall. In glaring orange, they expressed negative messages and warnings. Ironically this was located on Liberty Street. Likewise the crane in the background had the word America tilting . I asked myself whether this picture symbolized, what so many had written since 9-11, that our country had developed a paranoid, restrictive attitude toward liberty, and lost confidence in its goodness. Also I felt that the machinery, noise and foreboding barriers, interfered with my ability to generate a genuine feeling of tribute for those that died. When the signs are down and the equipment gone, maybe I'll feel comfortable with the place where humanity had been imperiled. For now, that terrible location and vision still lives in my memory. It wasn't at this place, not yet.
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5 comments:
Another fascinating post.
I do agree with you, had a chance to visit the site and decided against it, although I wasn't really sure why at the time. I know now. Thanks!
Enjoy your day,
Sylvia
Tres interessant! Haven't been to the site myself ... simply because I've not had the opportunity ...
But your post sheds a new light on things - the site seems to be not so much a memorial but a construction site ... with all that implies.
People say we need to "remember." If that means remember those who died so senselessly in this horror perpetrated by "true" believers who thought they were doing their god's will, I agree ...
But there's so much more to remember ... not only about the event itself but its aftermath ... which led, in one way or another to the "paranoid, restrictive attitude toward liberty" you mentioned.
This is not the place for such musings, so I'll simply say
"thanks" again for your insights.
Have a great weekend.
I remember that morning with stark clarity.
I have not had the opportunity to visit the site. Nor do I wish to, at this time. The pain of all those deaths still lingers. Best to remember from a distance.
I agree with Jacob...this isn't the place to be getting on a soapbox. So I'll only say that sometimes things have to be defined by their opposites. Those who have developed a "paranoid, restrictive attitude toward liberty" have sharpened the vision of those of us who don't share that attitude by giving us a clearer picture of what it is NOT. That helps us to better understand what it is.
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