It was all fun and games for me during 9/11/2001 because a student named Nikita was having his birthday party in class that day. When he left school early it seemed no big deal. Maybe it was because his birthday, I thought. But when more than half of my third grade class slowly was thinning out one by one, I could help but wonder why. I deduced that something important happened that affected a lot of people, but I just wasn’t able to put my finger on it. My mom who was supposed to be working that day picked me up. I was surprised to see her. She explained what happened and all the clamor that parents were making outside the school. When I got home I sat down at the dining table and waited for my mom to make me a snack. I would usually watch cartoons after school, but when I turned on the TV, I was only able to see the news on channel two. As a kid, I was upset that I wasn’t able to watch my favorite shows, such as Pokémon or Digimon.

Taking a look at Oscar’s view on 9/11, he wasn’t in my situation. He heard the final words of his father, and had to go through the pain of living and growing up without one. Oscar is one of those unlucky few who suffered a truly devastating loss. I, on the other hand, was a just a normal boy who was too young to comprehend others’ feeling. I was, in a way, lost in my own world. Oscar in a way lost a part of his childhood and grew up faster than most kids did.

9/11 has left an impact on Oscar. It isn’t easy to deal with all the grief he is suffering from. It also hurts him more when he holds onto the memories of his father. Oscar suffers when his mom is dating Rob. The memory of still having dad as a fatherly figure and mom only in love with dad is deteriorating. The concept of family is over when Rob steps into his mom life. In “The Limits of Remembrance” by David Rieff claims the forgetting is warrant, and in a way better. But for some people, like Oscar, forgetting might bring more pain. Oscar will lose precious memories of his dad. Pain will always live on in memory, but pain lives on when someone forgets someone or something special. Is forgetting really worth the sacrifice?

The picture of the 9/11 memorial in “The Limits of Remembrance” can be seen as the towers fading into the sky when getting bigger, which symbolizes a memory. When one lets go of a memory, the memory slowly fades away. The endurance of pain lessens and all the suffering disperses. Another analogy is as someone screams into the air, the sound drifts slowly away and spreads until it can’t be heard anymore. It can also be seen as a concrete memory that won’t be forgotten. The layers represent the depth of remembrance and all the way down to the core, 9/11 won’t be forgotten. Even in the hustle and bustle of New York City, 9/11 will always have a place in its lore. Even though the picture in “The Limits of Remembrance” can be seen in different way, there is no right still no right answer to is forgetting really worth the sacrifice? It all depends on the individual who answers it.