World Trade Center and the way we pay tribute

[Nick9]

Hi,
I've just read that the new building of WTC is now the tallest one in NY.

I'd like to ask how you feel about it. Should they have built it? Is it better to look ahead or to dwell in the past?
I know there is also a large memorial, but I am still not sure about the new building.

We have a similar dilemma (please note "similar" not the same and certainly not bigger or more important). Some of you may know about the Old Town Square and it's astronomical clock in Prague.


The tower with the clock is almost the only thing that remained from the old city hall. The clock is from the 15th century, the city hall is from 14the century. It has always played a big part in our history.
During the last days of WWII the large wing of the building was destroyed.

The area is quite big (it's behind the tower in the other part of the square, not on the picture), it's in the middle of the city and in one of the most touristically attractive parts of the city. So the pressure to build "something" there is quite big.

There have been a lot of competitions over the last 70 years.

It's the matter of money for politicians, the challenge for architects and... the distaste of ordinary people. We simply don't want to have anything built there.
The whole square and its buildings are several centuries old. We want to have just a lawn at the place where the old wing of the city hall was.

After so many competitions there is still the lawn and I hope it won't change. It's a simple memorial and it shows how touchy the subject still is for us.


I am sorry for what happened in the September. Even though the world is big, I am sure we were touched by the event just as much as the citizens of New York were.
I don't mean this question to be disrespectful. I would like just to know what you think about it.
Also, are there other places like this in other cities you know?
Thank you

[East]

I will refrain from saying what I really think of 911...I got in trouble last time I did itmile:

BUT if we are talking only about the building and the idea of moving forward I would defer to the judgement of the citizens of New York or Prague or anywhere really.....I am not sure there is a right answer so I think that in each instance the immediate community should decide.

[Nick9]

haha, that was such a clear and straight answer. Maybe I asked the wrong way. I didn't mean to judge their decision. I was interested in what people around the world would do with the place

[zeon]

Hello,
I feel building another big block higher than the rest is asking for some things to happen again... Yeah if this world was one with no troubles then fine it be good but its not there is always good and always evil and as we evovole to counter act terrorists they are evolving to counteract us.. l know in Brighton where i live all the properties tend to be the same height in one radius measurement however some prat decided to build a block of flats known as sussex heights which is about 40 floors tall and very expensive to live there... Only terrorism we had was in 1980's when the IRA tried to kill maggie thatcher by planting a bomb on the toilet except it wasnt her that took her last dump.... It was someone else....

i would be sick and say thats one explosive shit but ill probably get into trouble

bollocks couldnt resist

zeon x

[dfiant]

Sometimes to move forward we need to remember the past, embrace it, memorialize it, what ever. It's a way for closure and to begin moving on.

[East]

haha, that was such a clear and straight answer. Maybe I asked the wrong way. I didn't mean to judge their decision. I was interested in what people around the world would do with the place

Ahh...OK:biggrin:...my opinion would be to respect the grave and turn it into a park and memorial site...I am not a fan of the new building or any building at all on the site. Despite the murky circumstances surrounding 911 that alot of people including me question....people still need to process it and grieve no matter what they believe...maybe for decades...and I think it is a matter of respect to allow that to happen.

[Mrmatty376]

I don't really know. I think a simple memorial would have sufficed. People already forget about what happened and no one really cares about it. I'm not saying I don't, it's just that this generation could care less. Although it's a shame, it's reality. I don't think that a building would prove more respectful to those who lost their lives than a simple park or statue. Inevitably the building will be just that, a building.

[zeon]

Hello,
I also have to agree building a new building wasnt a sign of respect. I think that people in life need to think before they go building a replacement no matter how strong it is it should be turned into a respectful place not a monstrousity

[Vigilias]

Build.

Build tall, proud and defiant.

[Nick9]

Thanks, East, for coming back :biggrin:

you know it's interesting to read your post and the one of Matty.
I won't ever forget what I was doing in that moment when it happened. I also think that I won't ever get over it.
Is it possible that the new generation is feeling this differently? We are talking eleven years here, can we even speak about "a generation"?

Originally I got confused by the name "One" of the new building. I seems to me now that somehow they managed to find a free parcel (or they torn down another building?), and the new building doesn't stand on the exact place where the Tower 1 used to be.
So that's probably my "lawn" I wanted to have there...

Thanks everyone for your thoughts