Reflections
REFLECTIONS
ON
A
FUTURE JOURNEY
TO
THE 9/11 MUSEUM
by Dr. Mel Waldman
Flow fiercely and gloriously through time and we shall not forget you, for you are the celestial light that shines on our abyss and frees us from despair.
Here I am, after viewing from a distance the dedication ceremony of the 9/11 Museum, and I visualize my future descent into the bowels of the sacred site.
My journey will be an odyssey of mourning and celebration. I shall swallow images, ordinary objects, and other artifacts and flow fiercely to yesterday, a blue-sky morning of September 11.
“Don’t forget,” I will say to myself in the sprawling silence of my mind-my secret haven, as I say to myself now, and I will see the Roman poet’s words flowing across 3000 blue tiles 7 stories below street level, flowing fiercely and triumphantly,
No Day Shall Erase You From The Memory Of Time
Virgil
What shall my soul whisper to me when my solemn eyes sweep mournfully across the images of unspeakable evil?
I shall pass through a labyrinth of thousands of artifacts, a cornucopia of horror and survival, anguish and hope, death and transcendence.
I shall mourn and pray for the dead.
I shall gaze at the Survivors’ Staircase, the Last Column, and the Ground Zero Cross and taste the beauty of survival and resilience.
I shall gaze at the steel tridents that rise from this subterranean universe of darkness and light and soar 70 feet to the atrium above. Once, they helped support the North Tower. Now, they empower us.
And I shall observe and respect the simple objects that became sacred artifacts of 9/11. With love and awe, I shall see for the very first time a pair of eyeglasses and a case, shoes, a phone, a pair of scissors, a clock, and keys, and all the other ordinary objects transformed into holy relics.
These objects shall reveal the story of 9/11.
I shall gaze at them and understand.
A deeply personal strongly expressed meditation. I have problems with it. The U.S. has also created “images of unspeakable evil” from its destructive policies, which in part motivated the 9/11 attack. While “all the other ordinary objects transformed into holy relics” is an effective phrase, it evokes the feelings that give rise to holy war. While we may mourn and perhaps pray for the victims, we should examine our values to truly understand the reasons for this event. It’s not as though we are innocent. And there is nothing sacred about the site.
The poem is beautiful and inspirational. It is a prayer for almost 3000 people who died on 9/11. Its also a respectful acknowledgement of this sacred ground and a symbol of hope and transformation.