Vietnam vs other memorials

I’ve never been to the Vietnam Memorial- yet alone, know that there was such a thing in NYC. When I told my friends that I went to the Vietnam Memorial- most responded with, “What? In the city? Where?… Oh that’s a memorial, I used to eat my lunch there.” It’s really sad to think that way. If someone in my family was involved anyway in the Vietnam War, I’d surely be pissed that no one knew there was even a memorial for them.

I’m not going to lie, when Renee and I showed up to the Vietnam Memorial, I was beyond disappointed. I didn’t even know that there was a memorial there!  The only thing that really gave it away were the couple of street signs that pointed to that little area between to buildings that read “Vietnam Memorial —>” So I walked down the little pathway, half expecting to see something like they have in Washington, and see some stones with names carved into them. Not very exciting at all. I was so upset that I missed 9/11 (even though I’ve been there before), waited an hour for everyone else (we got to the memorial while everyone was walking from 9/11 to there), only to look at the memorial that really was so uninviting. I was prepared to just go back home, because it was pretty disgraceful.

But then Renee and I went to look around me, because maybe we were missing something. And we came across the big thing in the middle with words on it. We had time to spare so we switched off reading every one of the letters that was engraved on the wall. It started to rain and we craned and bent our necks to decipher each word. Turns out, those letters from soldiers or families of soldiers, were very touching. It was crazy to think that these men were my age and were going to fight in the army and leaving behind their whole life. It was sad to read that they hated the war and didn’t know why they were fighting. It was hard to read the hope in their voices that they would be home soon. The letters were really heartfelt and made me think a lot of what life would be like if their was a draft and everyone had to leave to fight in a bloody war.

The thought was unpleasant. However, the thought of that being the memorial for such a thing was even more unpleasant. I mean, come on! This was a huge war that no one wanted to fight! America was basically fighting a third world county and they wouldn’t even win! Where was the huge memorial? Where was the endless waterfall? Where was the decipherable writing on the wall? To me that memorial was so shameful.

I’ve been to Israel many times and all over the State are beautiful memorials of wall the wars in which they fought. I don’t even have to go as far as Israel to make my point. Look at Washington DC- the grand memorials. Better yet- look at the 911 memorial! That’s a memorial! Something that everyone is aware of.

You could argue that 911 was something in our time, something recent, and that’s why the memorial is so grand and memorable. However, I bet in 60 years from now, that water will still be flowing endlessly, and that memorial will never fade. The same should be true about the Vietnam memorial- although it’s clearly not the case. If my grandfather had fought in the Vietnam War and all he got was a little section in the city that no one even knew existed, I’d be pretty upset.