Put It Above Ground

The heart of the World Trade Center memorial is not the contemplative space of the memorial. Any space becomes contemplative because of the names of the 9-11 dead, it could be the side of a firehouse or the front of an office building. The heart and soul of 9-11 were the people lost and the names they left to our trust. The heart and soul of this memorial should never have been buried below street level in a city that vowed to “Never Forget.” For this reason alone, “Reflecting Absence” should never have been selected.

In a country that forgets the president before last, how could we have even considered placing the names of the dead in underground galleries? September 11, 2001 will just be history some day. It is our generation’s duty to ensure that the WTC memorial is a visible and respectful reminder of the human loss to terrorism. Moving the names to street level is a positive step towards that goal.

Mr. Arad and others claim that moving the names to street level has somehow robbed visitors of a peaceful contemplative space underground, a space away from the sounds of the city. Did Mr. Arad and his supporters ever consider the number of visitors that would have been underground at any one time, the sound of the waterfalls continuously pounding, and the rumble of the underground Path train behind the memorial walls? Compared to this deafening noise, I’d rather hear the sounds of the city so loved by the people we are remembering at this memorial.

Did the jury even once ponder the anxiety that would be provoked by the necessary stringent security and the evacuation difficulties of these underground galleries? Did the jury ever discuss the most critically important consideration as stated in the Kallstrom memo - the safety of millions of visitors to this site, or is safety still just an afterthought at the World Trade Center site? Cost feasability went unchecked for an inexcusable amount of time . “Reflecting Absence” as presented to the public over the past two years was never viable.

If the memorial process had been properly conducted, from selection to development, then perhaps maybe we would have had a very different memorial and a very different contemplative space above ground. Maybe the names of our 9-11 dead would not be confined to the perimeters of two giant waterfall pools, pools that will lose much of their significance when the generation that survived the Twin Towers passes on.

Maybe we should have erected a beautiful simple temporary memorial until the dust settled at Ground Zero and the real enduring legacy of 9-11 became evident, a legacy deeper and richer in meaning than the death and destruction of one day. Some day we will know what the sacrifice behind these names meant to our country and our world.

Perhaps the dead will have the last word on this memorial, through the power of their names. Maybe over the next few years, other elements may join the names in the light of the day, including some of the important artifacts that are now slated to be buried in an underground museum.