After a decade of the events
that happened during 9/11, New York and many other people refuse to let it go
from their memories. New York has been through a lot of tragic events in its
history and many traces of where those events took place will never be
forgotten but we do move on. Many tragic events include…
“There was
once a place called Five Points, where murderous gangs reigned. You couldn't
even find it on a map now. The factory building where young women leapt to
their deaths to escape the inferno consuming the Triangle Shirtwaist Co. is a
university office. The 1,021 souls who burned in 20 minutes aboard the General
Slocum in the East River 107 years ago are remembered by New Yorkers, if at
all, because they account for the worst loss of life before September 11, 2001”.
With all of
these tragic events that took place, New Yorkers stride on relentlessly to make
their future better then their past. They don’t see these events as a sign of trouble;
many just see it as a roadblock to the progress of the nation as a whole. But,
when it comes to 9/11 in today’s time, the overall mood is to never forget. We
are still trying to fill the sky of where the towers use to be. We are building
the freedom towers. And now there is an app for your phone that if you hold it
up to the place the towers use to be, it will put the towers in your view
through your phone. Many people that were hurt or scared that day across our
beautiful nation would never be as touched as a person that was in New York
that day or that personally knew someone that was killed during that day. Yet,
we still never want to let go because this attack was personal it feels like. It
wasn’t a military attack; it was just an attack to kill as many people as they
can. Why wouldn’t we want to let go of such a horrific day in our memory. I don’t
mind people remembering what happened on that day, but eventually we will move
on like all the past history in this nation. I just don’t like how some people
are simply trying to remember that day by buying the shirts the hats or the
pins. This is one of those events where you shouldn’t need something to remind
you of it all the time. It should be one of those things that live on in your
memory. When we are older and pass things on to your children or grandchildren.
Many of them would not know what the hats, the pins, or the shirts even mean.
They will just now the stories that are told, the books that were written, and
the pictures that were taken.
To end on a great
quote from this website, “A city, of course, is not monuments or buildings, as
Jane Jacobs reminded us. It is people and the communities they make. Some fled
New York (no one is quite sure how many left for good after the attack). But
others, hundreds of thousands of them, came from all around the world in the
years after 9/11”. We don’t need building of dedication, plaques on the walls;
all we need to do is show the world that nothing can keep our heads down. We
will always be able to stand back up no matter what is said and done.
I think you make a good point about the "hats, the shirts and the pins". I, personally, believe that doing so materializes our feelings. To remember, to respect one should not rely on commercial products to express our feelings. However, it is important to understand that what we feel and how we choose to reflect is also in great memory of the thousands of innocent civilans that lost their lives that day. Remebering that day should not be based on hatred and revenge, but more about reflecting, respecting and actually remembering. By buying tangible materials, we simply avoid doing the "talking", and rather, have those priced products do it for us, which is not the best way of showing emotions, and grief and anger and sadness.
ReplyDeleteAs human beings, we need to not take our sensual advantages over many other creatures, for granted. Shortly, those feelings and abilities are given to us for reasons.