A  Remembrancer  for  9/11/01

 

 

Donald Martin Reynolds

 

 

“Designate Ground Zero a monument, develop the 16-acre siteas a self-perpetuating memorial, and impose a 20-year moratorium on doing anything with the twin towers’ ‘footprint,’ allowing time for the families of those who perished and the survivors to reach a consensus on what should occupy the site—if anything.  Appoint a Remembrancer to make it happen, and shun creating a ‘temporary’ memorial, which is a contradiction in terms.”  DMR

 

 

Whatever the monument at Ground Zero to the victims and the tragedy of 9-11 turns out to be, if it is to endure, it will commemorate those who perished, the survivors, and the rescuers—the firefighters, police, and volunteers.  It will communicate the meaning of 9-11, and it will be a testament to America and its strength.

 

     Moreover, the monument will be self-perpetuating.  Otherwise, in time, it will join the ranks of New York City’s more than 800 forgotten “monuments to neglect.” 1  New York City just does not take care of its public monuments.  So, there must be a way to assure that the monument to 9-11 is maintained and preserved—in perpetuity.

 

 

Perpetuity Through Collaboration

 

     That can be accomplished if the developers of the site involve the families of the victims and the survivors as full partners in the rebuilding of Ground Zero.

 

     John C. Whitehead, chairman of the city-state authority charged with coordinating lower Manhattan’s redevelopment, reportedly envisions housing, office towers, cultural facilities, and a monument for the site--a kind of downtown Rockefeller Center. 2

 

      He is under enormous pressure to replace--as soon as possible--the eighteen million square feet of office space and the business community, which were lost in the

attack.  In fact, proposals are being made that will even increase the amount of office space by fifty percent and create a 24-hour community more efficiently integrated into the downtown area. 3

 

     The first thing to remember in any re-building, however, is that site is sacred ground, which has been sanctified by the blood of the almost 3,000 victims, who perished there.  That reality lays primary claim to the site.  How we honor that claim will be a measure of our progress along the road of civilization and will define what kind of people we are.

 

     But how is it possible to reconcile the demands of the city and state to rebuild and the moral obligation--to those who perished, their families, the survivors, and all Americans-- to respect that sacred space?

 

 

 

The Search for Meaning Perpetuated Through Research and Action

 

     One way is to make the entire sixteen-acre site a self-perpetuating monument developed in such a way that both commercial needs and moral obligations are satisfied.

 

     The first step would be to officially designate Ground Zero, which is sacred space, a monument. Then, develop the site along the lines that John Whitehead envisions.  The families of those who perished and the survivors would be involved in every aspect of the process of development.  In that way, the developers, the families, and the survivors become partners.  Some would want fuller participation than others, but no voice should go unheard.

 

     As Ground Zero is rebuilt, a percentage of the revenue generated by the development of the site--all the way from construction costs to tenants’ leases--would go into a fund.  Thus, the fund would perpetuate itself through the site’s redevelopment.  It would finance ongoing research and action programs—research into the causes of 9-11 and special projects developed to eradicate those causes that nurture terrorism and anti-American sentiment throughout the world.

 

     The fund would enable a panel of thought leaders, government officials, and scholars from the arts and sciences to work closely with the families and the developers.  That close collaboration would nurture the healing process among the families and the survivors.  The research and special programs would be crafted to complement the work of visionaries today who call for the world’s industrial leaders to “build bridges between governments, international organizations, civil society, and the market; and between the public and the private sectors,” in order to eradicate the causes of terrorism in the world. 4

 

     Those efforts would be intended to sensitize governments and international corporations to a global humanism, in which the dignity of the human person is preserved, as opposed to economic globalism, in which people are too often exploited for commercial or political gain.  Moreover, those efforts would address the principal catalysts of terrorism, which are the poverty, hunger, and illiteracy that affect more than a billion people throughout the world. 5  Governments and corporations must be made to understand that people are not means to an end.  They are ends in themselves and should be treated as such, Immanuel Kant insisted back in the eighteenth century. 6  Human dignity is above profit. 7

 

     The long-range objective in this self-perpetuating process of commemoration would be to unite the world community in a bond of peace dedicated to the full realization of the human person.  That objective echoes the hope for the World Trade Center that its architect, Minoru Yamasaki, had when he conceived it.  He envisioned the twin towers as “a physical expression of the universal effort of men to seek and achieve world peace.” 8

 

 

Commemoration Through Self-Perpetuation

 

     There are countless ways to build those bridges and realize that objective: exchange programs among nations, who share our common cause of freedom--at all levels of government, commerce, education, and religion; local, regional, and national programs for our elementary and secondary schools, to explore the diversity of world cultures; college internships with governments sympathetic to constructive dialogue with the United States; language studies tailored to humanistic ends; fellowships and grants to outstanding scholars and teachers and the establishment of a university chair devoted to the study of terrorism, and its cultural ramifications.

 

      In time, the researchers and activists would no doubt include children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of the victims who perished on September 11.  In fact, the dynamic of such an enterprise, sensitizing the world community to the full realization of the human person, would ripple through time and space attracting people of all ages from all walks of life.

 

     The possibilities for building those bridges are infinite—limited only by our resolve.

Can you imagine what could be accomplished if we as a nation determined to work toward the full realization of the human person with the same resolve that we have undertaken the military war on terrorism? 

 

     As Sam Dorsky, who made this annual symposium possible, used to say to me, “Don, this country’s resources are limitless.”  Just think of the range and the enormity of America’s countless resources that could be brought to bear on this undertaking to create a self-perpetuating monument to peace and the full realization of the human person. 

 

     It is no longer simply the humane thing to do to address the hunger, poverty, ignorance, and inequities that exist throughout the world and the anti-American sentiment that is so widespread—those incubators of the terrorism that caused the tragedy of 9-11 and that threaten even greater devastation.

 

     With the tragedy of 9-11, it has become apparent now more than ever before just how high the stakes really are.  We have it within our power with weapons of mass destruction and fast growing technology to develop, as the poet Don Blanding said, “new ways of killing, new multiples of pain,” and ultimately to even destroy ourselves. 

 

     That poet writing during World War II went on to ask, “Is all the blood that men have shed, but blood shed all in vain?”  And then he admonished us, “We must mobilize for peace.  Nor mobilize in vain.  Lest Christ and man be forced to climb stark Calvary again.” 9

 

     The world’s very survival may well depend upon eradicating those catalysts of terrorism.  Finding and rooting out the existing networks of terrorists is underway and will take a long time.  But that is no long-range solution.  The root causes of terrorism and the conditions that nurture it must be identified and eliminated.

 

     I doubt if many of us here today ever stopped to think that compassion for the poor and the hungry of the world would be a requirement for our survival.  How prescient of psychiatrist Willard Gaylin, back in 1976, to predict that “human caring” might very well be “a requisite for the survival of [our] species.”10  Thus, the only hope for humankind may be found in a re-orientation of the world community along humanistic lines.

 

     It is altogether fitting then that the monument to 9-11, in addition to commemorating the victims, would perpetuate itself by altering the world community through research and programs designed to eradicate the causes of terrorism through the full realization of the human person. 

 

 

A Transcendent Bond

 

     Undergirding this entire process of self-perpetuation, in which the developers and the families of the victims and the survivors work together to rebuild Ground Zero as a monument to 9-11, is a kind of transcendent pragmatism.  The needs of the developers to rebuild and those of the families of the victims to remember are both respected in the day-to-day give-and-take, compromise, and resolution of conflicts that are bound to arise in such a collaboration. 11

 

     That collaboration and compromise among the developers and the families of the victims and the survivors is the same process that is part of all of our daily lives in the work place in our capitalistic and democratic system.  It’s the process that built this country, except that at Ground Zero, it involves the erection of a monument to 9-11.  That process was integral to the lives of those who perished in the World Trade Center last September.  In fact, it united them.  It unites all Americans involved in institutional life--and it unites us to them.

 

     When the victims of 9-11 were killed, all of them—each one in her or his own way, from messenger to CEO—were working to realize their own potential in whatever was their pursuit, whatever they were doing, great or small—seeking their own unique yet contextual place in the journey we all share--making a life for ourselves.  It is the dignity of human action, in which not only the grand and the great but also the small and the humble things of life are respected, that binds the community together and that unites us all.  In commemorating their lives, we celebrate that dignity of human action—in the work we all do, the relationships we forge in the process, and all the things that unite us as human beings—a dignity uniquely protected and nurtured through our democratic system. 12

 

     The attack on the World Trade Center was an attack not only on those innocent victims but also on their way of life—on our way of life—on American capitalism and democracy and the personal freedom upon which they are built.  It was an attack by an enemy that has a total and absolute disregard of human life fused with an all-consuming hatred and contempt for the American way of life.  It was an act of sacrilege in which even the ritual of death was denied the many whose remains would never be found. 13

 

     Through this self-perpetuating process of commemoration, Ground Zero would be an eternal reminder that the blood of the almost 3,000 victims who sanctified that space was not blood shed in vain—that their sacrifice is a living testament to America’s strength and the dignity of human action, a testament that would endure from generation to generation.

 

 

 

A Realm of Contemplation

 

     As the rebuilding of Ground Zero progresses, leave the “footprint” of the twin towers empty.  Impose a 20-year moratorium on doing anything with that space, allowing the families and the survivors time to arrive at a consensus of what should occupy it—if anything.  That space would eventually become the repository of the permanent and physical symbol of commemoration.  Meanwhile, leave it empty—a realm of contemplation: contemplation of Ground Zero as sacred ground and as the reliquary that will always contain the remains of those who will never be found.

 

     It is much too early now even to begin to consider what should be done with that space.  The families of those who perished and the survivors need to be allowed time--to grieve, to mourn, and to heal--before becoming involved in such a decision and before they can reach a consensus of what that space should be, what it should mean, what it should do.  And justice demands that they--the families, along with the survivors--must be the ones to decide what’s to be done with that space.

 

    At least two architects have recognized the need to wait in designing the appropriate statement.  Renzo Piano told a reporter last December that “the architects who could design well for Ground Zero are now only four or five years old.”  And just last month, Philip Johnson said, “…let the thing cook for a generation.” 14

 

     As the developers, families, and survivors involve themselves in rebuilding Ground Zero, their energies and resources would be invested in the self-perpetuating process of commemoration in the rebuilding, the research, and the action program, and would not be dissipated in creating “temporary” memorials, which is a contradiction in terms.  The many spontaneous acts of commemoration that rose throughout the city immediately following the tragedy of 9-11, the shrines at the firehouses and the photographs of missing loved ones posted throughout the city, for example, should not be confused with a reasoned and planned memorial, even though such expressions might provide the inspiration for the permanent memorial. 15

 

     The moratorium on the footprint of the twin towers would not preclude the art required under the percent-for-art program from expressing a commemorative message as the new buildings are erected.  In the percent-for-art program, a percent of the construction costs of a building must be devoted to art. 

 

     Artists, architects, and designers could create commemorative plaques, fountains might mark special places, and buildings might require chapels or rooms for meditation.  Every effort should be made to involve all the arts in the commemorative process of rebuilding, not the visual arts alone.  No doubt symphonies and poems will be written and performed, and the creative drives that produce them should become part of the ongoing process of rebuilding.

 

 

A Remembrancer  for 9-11

 

     A successful collaboration between the developers and the families and the survivors would require strong leadership, someone who could navigate the rapids of city and state government while being committed to the creation of an appropriate monument.

 

     The person for the task would have the experience and abilities similar to those of the former mayor, Rudolph W. Giuliani.  His leadership in the aftermath of the tragedy and his tenure as mayor of the city provide more than ample evidence of the abilities required to do the job.  And it would take someone totally and absolutely committed to the creation of an appropriate monument to the victims and the tragedy of 9-11.

 

     Because the key to the success of such an undertaking is the right people, the individual would need full authority to establish an organization to make it work and the ongoing authority to eliminate any impediments or obstacles to the process.  Whoever is selected should be guided by thought leaders from cultural and academic fields to assure that the programs of research and action are properly conceived and executed.  That means establishing policies based on sound philosophy, which should be developed in dialogue with the families, survivors, developers, and the advisors.

 

     The appropriate designation for the new role would be Remembrancer for 9-11. 16  The office of remembrancer not only has a long and noble pedigree, it is also historically suited to the task. 

 

     At different times and different places in history, remembrancers’ duties varied.  They included collecting and preserving memorabilia and overseeing the creation of monuments.  In England from the Middle Ages the remembrancer was under the Exchequer and even supervised the settlement of estates for the Crown, which required dexterity and sensitivity in working with often divergent personalities and opposing constituencies, challenges that would also face the Remembrancer for 9-11.

 

     In ancient times, kings and sovereigns appointed remembrancers to remind them of their promises and obligations to their subjects.  Even the Old Testament God had to be reminded of his promises to his people, so he made his greatest prophet Isaiah his remembrancer. 17

 

     Isaiah was relentless in reminding God of his promises to the Israelites until Jerusalem would be “a praise in the earth.” 18

 

     As Isaiah worked for the restoration of the Israelites and their city of Jerusalem, New York’s remembrancer would have to be relentless in making the restoration of downtown Manhattan and the creation of its monument to the victims of 9-11 “a praise in the earth.”

 

     But how can we be assured of the remembrancer’s resolve?  Because whoever is chosen could not help but realize that such a self-perpetuating monument to the victims and the tragedy of 9-11 would be the greatest challenge anyone could ever hope to face.  That challenge is nothing short of setting humanity on a course for its very survival.

 

     Moreover, the remembrancer will have opened a new era in the public memorial—a monument that perpetuates itself through commemoration united to the full realization of the human person.