The Memorial That Says it All

After a memorial was built to honor those lost in the twin towers crisis, many people were impressed with it, but maybe there were people who were not satisfied with what was built to honor the towers.

abcnews.go.com

Using the article about 9/11’s memorial from their website, I’ll answer the question “Does the memorial sufficiently pay tribute to the lives lost in the event?”

Based on seeing pictures of and reading about the memorial, I think the memorial does pay tribute to both the towers, and the lives lost. The memorial consists of fountains, or “reflecting pools”, that spill down and underground. Around the pools are bronze plates inscribed with the name of the people who died, including people in the building, people on the planes, firefighters, policemen, paramedics and everyone else who was killed.

At nighttime, lights shoot up into the sky and imitate what the skyline would still look like had the towers still been standing. I think the memorial is beautiful and is better than any statue or any other tribute that could’ve been built. The lights symbolize the towers and that they will live on forever. Much like the Vietnam War memorial, submissions were taken and a proposal was chosen. The architects who won the contest were Michael Arad and Peter Walker. Out of 5,200 submissions from 56 countries the two partners were chosen to direct the project.

FUTURE RESEARCH: How is the 9/11 memorial similar or different to other memorials? Does the nature of the tragedy affect the way the memorial is built?