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chhotiiNews today about a plan for rebuilding the WTC site. I only know what I've heard on the radio, so I can't comment on the plans as a whole.
One aspect that caught my attention: that some fragment of ruin of the old WTC-- a "slurry wall", whatever that is-- will be incorporated as a memorial.
Hearty approval of this idea in this corner. Ruins are powerful, emotional, touching memorials. Building around them links present to past like nothing else. Look at how Kurfurstendamm, the heart of cosmopolitan modern Berlin, has been built around the Gedaenkniskirche. Ruins capture attention and speak their message without being pretentious or preachy.
Also seen in Germany: on the outskirts of Munich, just one (I think) remaining wall of what must have been a very large, tall building. Near the top of the ruin, someone had spray-painted, in huge letters, NIE WIEDER KRIEGE.
Here's a thought: is it a coincidence that that Europeans, growing up looking at these reminders, are so less quick to rush into war on Iraq? Something about stone-cold realities of war. Something about humility.
Perhaps we need more standing ruins in this country. The death and destruction that happened on 9/11 was... words fail me, in trying to rank how bad that was. But now that it has happened, let's not throw away this silver lining: an authentic bombed-out war ruin, that we can touch and feel and think about, and thus have a concrete moment of contact with the past. A raw reminder that keeps us linked with that moment.
I sure hope they keep the slurry wall.
One aspect that caught my attention: that some fragment of ruin of the old WTC-- a "slurry wall", whatever that is-- will be incorporated as a memorial.
Hearty approval of this idea in this corner. Ruins are powerful, emotional, touching memorials. Building around them links present to past like nothing else. Look at how Kurfurstendamm, the heart of cosmopolitan modern Berlin, has been built around the Gedaenkniskirche. Ruins capture attention and speak their message without being pretentious or preachy.
Also seen in Germany: on the outskirts of Munich, just one (I think) remaining wall of what must have been a very large, tall building. Near the top of the ruin, someone had spray-painted, in huge letters, NIE WIEDER KRIEGE.
Here's a thought: is it a coincidence that that Europeans, growing up looking at these reminders, are so less quick to rush into war on Iraq? Something about stone-cold realities of war. Something about humility.
Perhaps we need more standing ruins in this country. The death and destruction that happened on 9/11 was... words fail me, in trying to rank how bad that was. But now that it has happened, let's not throw away this silver lining: an authentic bombed-out war ruin, that we can touch and feel and think about, and thus have a concrete moment of contact with the past. A raw reminder that keeps us linked with that moment.
I sure hope they keep the slurry wall.
