Visit to memorials

There isn’t much to say about the memorials that others haven’t already stated. The 9/11 memorial was very moving like what most others already said, while the Vietnam memorial was small and abandoned. Looking at the two memorials and after the discussion we had in class the following friday i began to think back to my english class from high school.

My teacher use to talk about memory’s and how things existed. Such as to the extent that we exist. Seeing the differences between the 9/11 and Vietnam memorial it relates to the discussion my class use to have. The 9/11 memorial is a very tragic thing that occurred a little over a decade ago, while the war in Vietnam happened much longer ago. Slowly however the extent to which the two are remembered is different. Not many people now a day experienced or remember the Vietnam war, but many people remember 9/11. I honestly didn’t know new york had a Vietnam memorial and I had never gone to the 9/11 one. One day in the near future people will not remember experiencing what occurred during the Vietnam war, and in the further future, people will not remember first hand experiences of 9/11.

One day the only thing that will remain will the the documented experiences of 9/11 and Vietnam and no one will know first hand what had actually occurred. Then the highly guarded 9/11 we visited on tuesday will end up looking similar to Vietnam where people seem to be around not very much by choice.

I just noticed my post is very negative so i should add a positive aspect. I did enjoy the memorial very much with how everything in Manhattan was drowned out by the fall of the water. There was a certain amount of peace in just listening to water fall and not have to deal with cars and people around you. Even with the emptiness of the Vietnam memorial, it was made more positive since all of us students were there looking at it, rather than being alone to see it.