The Vietnam and 9/11 Memorials

It was kind of disappointing to visit the Vietnam Memorial after seeing the 9/11 one. Please do not get me wrong, it was beautiful and made me just as sad as the 9/11 Memorial, but it was not grand, or majestic, or attention grabbing. However, the Vietnam Memorial had something that the 9/11 Memorial could not give me. It let me see into the minds of the soldiers and almost feel a little fleck of what they felt. It was more personal. I am fortunate enough to say that I did not lose anyone my family knew personally on 9/11, which is perhaps why I could not feel the same loss as some people did at the 9/11 Memorial. However, I saw that loss at the Vietnam Memorial. I saw the loss of humanity and hope in those quotes by those soldiers. There was one quote on the wall the read something like, “Is this all for nothing?” This soldier was doubting his purpose and the use of his life. There were many other, and probably more powerful quotes at the Vietnam Memorial that made me see beyond a name and see a person, not just some name I did not know. Reading the letters from those soldiers made the experience more personal. It made me see inside their minds and thoughts and feelings. Ironically, the Vietnam Memorial pulled me into the art more than the 9/11 Memorial did. It pulled me into all the emotion that comes with war and loss of hope and death. After talking about the Vietnam Memorial with some of the class, I finally understood that the artist wanted the viewer to move around. He/she wanted the viewer to back up to see the large printing and get really close to see the fine printing and walk through the “doorway” or “arch” in the wall. This, again, sucked me into the art. The artist obviously wanted the viewer to look at the wall from different angles and perhaps step back and think about what they just read. Unfortunately, I was too tired to stand and think, so I sat down and thought about the horrible things these men probably saw. I will probably never understand what it means to truly go to war, but reading what these soldiers thought gave me a glimpse. They were probably surrounded by death. I think that this echoes in the location of the Vietnam Memorial. The wall seems to be built between a noisy street and the water. When I was reading what was written on the wall, I could hear neither the noise of the city or the noise of the water.

I really hope I do not offend someone in my review, but the 9/11 Memorial reminded me of everything else in the city, royal, grand, large (in its own way) and callous. The memorial seemed to be made of deep gray metals that were cold. It did draw me in to some extent, but not the way the Vietnam Memorial did. The group of friends I was with for most of the trip did visit both “grounds,” but were not very much pulled into the architecture. I understand that the giant square-shaped holes in the ground are constantly being filled with water, but are never really being filled, and is supposed to represent this massive void that the day left in America’s pride and in the families of those who lost in 9/11, but the memorial did not pull me in emotionally. As I may have mentioned, it was about a list of names of people I did not know, and could not connect with. Something I think that the artist took in consideration when designing the structure is that it is impossible to see the end of the “holes” from around the memorial. I think this is also meant to represent that the void has no end and can never be quenched. I think if I knew someone who lost their life on 9/11, I would have a deeper emotional connection to this memorial. After talking about the memorial with some of the class, I finally understood that the memorial is supposed show the large number of people who lose their lives on 9/11. To some extent, it is about the names. So many people lost their lives on that day. The artist probably wanted the viewer to think about the number of people. People were in the plans, in the buildings, and some lost their lives trying to save others. Something I noticed about the scenery is that the memorials (essentially two giant square holes in the ground) were framed by trees creating another square, around the memorial. I think this was purposely done to frame the 9/11 Memorial, to make it appear as a true work of art. Or maybe this was purposely done to capture the two massive voids the artist created.

Disclaimer: I did take pictures at the memorial, and I know we touched upon this in class, but something I did not say is that (as I’ve mentioned in this review) I am fortunate enough to say I did not lose anyone on 9/11, which is perhaps why I do not fully understand what this memorial means. It acts as a place people can come to for closure and mourning. I will not feel the same loss they felt, but seeing it gave me a sense of what some of those people were feeling and taking a picture of it means capturing the feeling, essentially making it last longer. I am so so so so so sorry if this offended people.