Life goes on, but we remember

Paul Goldberger’s Requiem was an easy read that I found myself excited about. His description of the Oklahoma City memorial as well as the other memorials mentioned were extremely vivid, but also made me want to see them for myself. After looking up pictures of the Oklahoma City memorial, I understood further what Goldberger said about abstraction. A memorial like this is abstract, yet is specific in areas that it needs to be. He explains that most memorials, especially ones created in our recent history, are like this. The abstract message is oftentimes what is most relatable, applicable, or understandable. However, certain specifics make the memorial a dedication to the specific life lives that it is created in honor of. He describes the Washington Memorial as “suggest[ing] George Washington’s primacy in the history of this country in away that no statue of him on a horseback possibly could.” There is truth to this. The monument is abstract, yet specific to Washington because we know the history. When it comes to memorials honoring a mass of people, Goldberger notes that after the Vietnam memorial was created, with names of the fallen etched on the granite wall, no monument created after that point could not list the names of the lives lost.

The Oklahoma City monument is unique in that it is abstract, yet extremely specific if looked at closely. Goldberger describes the beautiful night view of the monument as being an abstract view in which the base-lit chairs appear to be votives in memory of the lost in between the arches of time. However, during the day, the memorial is extremely specific, with a chair for every killed person (smaller chairs for the children) as well as names of the survivors also listed. One thing that seems extremely beautiful about this particular monument is the “survivor tree”, while Goldberger mentions that leaving the ruins of the buildings can be seen as a monument of terror and tragedy, the “survivor tree” symbolizes the life still left. Life goes on.

I haven’t gotten the chance to visit any particular memorials, however on September 11, 2011, I was watching as the 9/11 memorial in New York was unveiled to the public, the survivors, and the families of the fallen. Not only is the memorial, with its waterfalls and etchings on the walls, beautiful, but also the reactions to the memorial were completely breathtaking. I never understood how survivors and families could get peace from a memorial until I saw these reactions. People were making rubbings from the names, weeping at the sight of the waterfalls. Life goes on, but we are able to remember those who we have lost in tragedy. I think that is key when designing a memorial. The monument should celebrate and commemorate lives.

The picture I have included is of the 9/11 memorial in New York City from http://www.burginconstructioninc.com/a-weekend-of-remembrance/. I wanted to find one with reactions, but couldn’t find one. The monument is beautiful, but I think the beauty mostly comes from the peace it brings to those who see it.