A part of me wonders if only the people who have lost their loved ones in the 9/11 attack can truly understand the sadness of the event. Everyone knows that they are supposed to feel sad because it was a tragic event, but I don’t think one can truly understand the loss.

I remember getting out of school almost as soon as I had arrived. No one explained anything. There was a person on the loudspeaker telling the students that their parents would be arriving shortly. No one was told why.

As I left the school, I wondered what the reason was for this great fortune. I thought about how wonderful it was to be able to play with my friends. It wasn’t until much later that night that I was told what happened.

Naturally, or unnaturally, I didn’t really understand what was going on. My uncle was in the second tower that got hit, but I was told not to worry because he made it out ok. “Of course he made it out ok,” I thought. “He’s too young to die.” A naïve thought.

A few days later, he told me about what happened to him. Although it was a horrific event, he managed to make everything seem ok. He told me about how he lost a pair of new shoes when the tower went down, how women had to take off their heels so they could escape faster, how a lot of people made it out safely by using the elevator. “Aren’t people supposed to use the stairs if there’s any emergency?” Maybe it isn’t always safer. “Most people,” he said, “made it out using the elevator. They got down a lot faster.” I still don’t understand.

Although I didn’t lose anyone in the destruction, I was still worried about safety. Planes themselves don’t scare me, but there’s now a slight panic when my planes are about to land. I’ve been afraid of heights for most of my life, but now I’m even more afraid of being in tall buildings. Like Oskar, I started inventing in order to cope. One of the inventions I recognized was to have buildings shift, and not the elevator. Thinking back on that, I realize how impractical that is. Not to mention, if that were to happen, what would become of the people trapped underground?

I’ve never met anyone who has lost a loved one in the flames, so I feel like Oskar’s story is the closest I will get.  I still wonder how it feels to lose someone in that way.  How would I have reacted?  Would I understand the meaning of death?  Would I understand once we got to the funeral?  I’m not even sure if I would have been as affected as Oskar had been.  My uncle and I didn’t have the kind of relationship Oskar had with his father.  Would I have been heartless?  On the other hand, could I be so traumatized that the memory fades into my subconscious?

Rieff says that “remembrance is humanly necessary”.  This aspect of human thinking makes personal loss almost unbearable. Rieff makes it seem that we need to forget the events of 9/11. So why is it that even when we want to forget we still take part in memorials like the tenth anniversary of 9/11 that Rieff mentions? I believe it’s because when you are deeply connected to a person, losing that person creates an empty emotional space in your mind, a hole in your heart.

Memorials, though they remind you of your loss, allow you to have the satisfaction that even though that person is not in your life anymore, you have not entirely forgotten them. And maybe forgetting them is worse that remembering them because forgetting them might mean that they did not really mean that much to you. Does entirely forgetting your loved one and the way they died suggest that they did not make an impact on you life?

One of the main issues I had with this article was Rieff’s view towards memory. In a small way, I can understand his opinion on forgetting, how it does seem practical. If people could forget the events of September 11^th, then they could let go of the pain and the fear that come along with the memories. If Oskar could just forget, then perhaps he could sleep at night, he could stop inventing and he could stop giving himself bruises. But in every other way, it seems utterly preposterous that anyone should suggest that 9/11 is an event that must eventually be forgotten. Maybe my opinion is a product of the times that we live in, a time when, as Riess points out, people call out for everyone to remember as almost a battle cry.  But it seems like remembering and coping with those painful memories is the least we can do in honor of those who lost their lives, and of the families who have to live with the emptiness caused by the death of a loved one. Just take a look at Oskar Schell’s life (who, though he is a fictional character, could represent many children who lost a parent that day). Despite our opinions about Oskar and his precocious nature, it’s easy to see he had a very close, loving relationship with his father. It seems terribly insensitive to consign the memory of Thomas Schell and his son’s love for him to be forgotten within a short generation. We should take the old adage “He who does not remember the past is condemned to repeat it” to heart, instead of labeling it trite, because it could be helpful in the same way Rieff suggests forgetting is helpful. If we learn from the memories of September 11^th, and remember that it is painful and joyless to live in fear and anger, then we can live and peace and still pay respects to those who died on that day and the families that still miss them.

What struck me most about what Adams said about his composition “On the Transmigration of Souls” was how he used the children’s chorus in his piece unlike other composers have; that is, instead of using their voices to echo their innocence, Adams put them “in the thick of things”, as he said. In that way, Adams expressed the idea that not even children were spared from the horrors of September 11^th, which is a theme that Foer also explored in his work, with Oskar being only a young boy and having to deal with such tragedy. I also thought it was interesting that the soloists in Adams’ piece were a nine year old boy, like Oskar, and two middle aged women, like Oskar’s mother and grandmother.

Another thing that struck me was how poignantly both works make one remember what occurred on September 11^th, and how even though it is painful to remember, it’s important never to forget. In both Adams and Foer’s works, memory is an important theme. In Foer’s book, Oskar is on a quest in memory of his father, to understand and come to terms with his father’s death. Adams’ piece, composed of the names of those who died in the towers and quotes from missing person’s signs, is a tribute to the memory of those who perished. It makes the listener remember that it was individuals who died, each with their own story.

Without a doubt, 9/11 was a very jarring event. It was sudden and shocking and millions did not know how to deal with the plethora of feelings
inside them afterwards. Therefore, I found it quite interesting that both Foer and Adams used art to try to make sense of things, for themselves and others.

Both Foer and Adams (through writing and music, respectively) attempted to reach out to their audience and help them clear up the confusion and chaos within them (“give them a sense of serenity”, to paraphrase from Adams’ interview). Both works also place great emphasis on memory, and how these memories link all of us, who in some way were affected by the tragedy. In his interview, Adams suggests a connection between the living and the dead. Both were transformed by 9/11. Therefore the title of his song “On The Transmigration of Souls”, he means all of us as well, the individuals who have changed because of 9/11.

Since both Foer and Adams focus on memory, they use different mediums to get this point across. Foer’s work contains text, photography, and manipulation of words on the page. Adams’ work contains music, recitation, and photography as well. Both are firm believers in the saying “a picture is worth a thousand words”.