The memorials

This was the first time  I attended both the 9/11 and Vietnam Memorials. I was shocked at the difference of the two.

The 9/11 memorial to me is beautiful from an architectural and artistic point of view. I loved the square shape of the memorial. The waterfall streaming from the sides of the memorial looked beautiful. But what scared me was that the water was flowing into a black hole. Looking at the hole, I had an eery feeling. I kept thinking about how the water was streaming down into the hole and into nothingness. I began to think about all of the people who died from the tragedy of 9/11. I did not want their legacy and memory to go into nothingness. I wanted people to remember Frank c. Salvaterr and Dowell Jr. who perished on 9/11. I wanted people to realize how crazy 9/11 was. How crazy the people who were behind 9/11 were. I want someone to make sure that this never happens again. At the memorial I took a picture of 3 names and a rose. The rose signified that it was the person’s birthday recently. The whole time I kept thinking about how that family is never going to be able to spend another birthday with their loving relative.

I was shocked to see that there were no people at the Vietnam memorial. The memorial was dark and drab with not a single person in sight. I felt bad that no one was at the memorial. There were millions of people at the 9/11 memorial. I felt as if the Vietnam memorial was neglected. I loved the letters that were written across the Vietnam memorial. One of the letters that stood out to me was: I just wanted to let you know that I am OK… Love Kenny. I could imagine that his parent’s must have been so happy to receive a letter that their son was OK. I know I would be.

Memorials to me are a great idea. It is a great idea to build something that represents something that happened in order for everyone to know and remember what happened. By seeing a memorial people will learn to never forget. Memorials are a good way to help people deal with their pain experienced by the tragedy. When people see the 9/11 memorial for example, they know that they are not alone. Other people lost people from 9/11 and there are families that know what they are going through.