The images of 9/11 are forever engraved onto our minds. The planes disappearing into the buildings. The fire and smoke. The towers crumbling and then the deathly gray ash that covered everyone and everything nearby.
After the Twin Towers collapsed, a cover of smoke large enough to block the sunlight blanketed New York City. The smoke continued pouring for weeks from the countless fires smoldering under tons of debris. If there is a hell, then this surely was a glimpse into the entry gates.
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This is precisely why the 9/11 Memorial, with its waterfalls is both fitting and symbolic. It’s the antidote for what haunts us on this hallowed ground. The quenching waters perpetually pour relief into the footprints of where the Twin Towers once burned in a fiery heap.
A cool breeze blows across the open area and visitors are anointed with a fine mist from the pools. The cooling mist is calming and causes a visitor to interact with the memorial, allowing one to feel a bond with this place. One can nearly sense the almost 3000 spirits at peace here. Perhaps they dance unseen in the swirling spray, free at last from the rubble and flames.
The waterfalls are not thunderous but rather, create a whisper just loud enough to block out any extraneous sound, leaving a visitor truly alone with his or her thoughts without distraction.
The memorial named, ‘Reflecting Absence,’ was designed by architect and former Israeli soldier, Michael Arad. Mr. Arad’s design was chosen over approximately 5,000 other proposed plans.
There are too many stories here to tell in one visit; some well-known and others not. There’s the story of the pear tree, now known as the ‘Survivor Tree,’ which was almost destroyed in the 9/11 attacks. The tree, originally planted at the World Trade Center grounds in the 1970’s, was found barely alive under the rubble during cleanup of the site. Badly charred with broken branches and snapped roots, the callery pear tree was transplanted to the Van Cortlandt Park nursery grounds in the Bronx, where it was nursed back to health, but not before being uprooted in a storm and replanted once again. The tree was a mere eight feet tall in 2001. Returned to its original home at the 9/11 Memorial, the once scrappy, barely living little tree now stands at a mighty 35 feet, a symbol of resilience and determination, proudly showing its battle-scars.
Then there’s the story of Robert Joseph Gschaar and Myrta Alvarado. When Mr. Gschaar asked Ms. Alvarado to marry him in 1989, both being married prior, he presented her with a $2 bill to symbolize their second chance at a life together. He placed a second $2 bill in his own wallet. Robert worked at the Aon Corp. on the 98th floor of the South Tower when the plane hit. He called Myrta and told her that he was evacuating the building and that he would call her later. He never did. Myrta and Robert had been married for 12 years.
Four years later, workers combing through the rubble recovered a dirty battered wallet. Inside were Robert’s $2 bill and his work I.D. badge. Also recovered was his wedding ring. The recovered items will be displayed at the 9/11 Museum when it opens next year.
There are an overwhelming 2,983 names carved into the bronze panels that surround the pools, which include the names of the six victims in the 1993 attack, the victims of the Pentagon crash and those lost at Shanksville, Pa. Every one of them has a story. A story of a family left behind. A story of a last-minute promise to call a loved one, only to be kept waiting and wondering forever. Perhaps a family found closure with the recovery of a personal item or through DNA testing. For the majority, however, there was nothing to touch in memory of someone. No certainty. Here they can come to lay a flower on a name or skim a hand over the water that will eventually return into the pools. Here they can finally grieve at the final resting place. While the land is designated as a memorial, it’s so much more. It’s a final resting place. And hopefully, a place where some may find solace.
Domenick Pilla is also the NY Culture Examiner
©2011 Domenick Pilla
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