A memorial for a memorial.
This wall was once covered with 9/11 Missing posters. "The Wall of Remembrance" was preserved here for years, secured under plexiglass, and eventually taken down. A permanent memorial was planned, but there was not enough money for it.
Wrote Clyde Haberman at the Times:
"The 9/11 fliers are now preserved in plastic and arranged alphabetically, from Terence E. Adderley Jr. to Ken Zelman, in four loose-leaf binders... The binders are in storage, emerging rarely save for one day a year. 'We have a memorial Mass every Sept. 11 in the chapel, and we bring the books there,' Sister Kevin said. 'We let people look through them, and then we take them back' — out of sight but never out of mind."
Of course, St. Vincent's is now a haunted house, Sister Kevin doesn't work there anymore, and who knows where the loose-leaf binders have gone.
3 comments:
This post is heartbreaking in so many ways... it hurts so much to step back and remember that yes, situations so needless and insensitive as this are a part of our reality. The last photo is extremely telling - more so when taken in context with the 9/11 memorials. Thanks for another beautiful post.
Living in the WV. I'd go to St. Vincent's to look at the fliers. I'd think: hope someone saves these fliers. Never: hope someone saves this hospital! Wish those Missing fliers were published in a book. This past Sunday, the newspaper for the town in which I now live published snapshots I took -- one shows people at St. Vincent's, reading the posted fliers.
I have posted a video of the wall.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ag6jV-p6k8
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