Something at once beautiful, powerful, provocative and meaningful that the media prefers to ignore
This column is composed to illuminate a beau geste given to honor our brothers and sisters lost on 9/11. This is written three years after the consecration of an august gesture that I had not heard of and it seems many others as well -- the Tear Drop Memorial, Russia's gift to the United States on the fifth anniversary of 9/11. The source of this ignorance will be dealt with in a moment.
The link to the 9/11 monument site is provided above so there will be only a brief comment on the Memorial itself and its artist. The Tear Drop Memorial was created by Georgian/Russian sculptor Zurab Tsereteli and is officially titled "To the Struggle Against World Terrorism" or "The Memorial at Harbor View Park". The monument is located at The Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor, New Jersey, and is lined up to look upon the Statue of Liberty. The persons most likely to see it would be those coming into the harbor by boat.
The monolithic block of vertical, earth-colored stone is over 100 feet high. It appears rent in the center from top to bottom and in the gap is a 40 foot, four ton nickel-plated tear drop. The base of the monument is a multi-faceted onyx pedestal inscribed with the names of all of those that perished on 9-11-01, from Flight 93 in Pennsylvania to the Pentagon to the twin Trade Towers.
The symbolisms of this touching and costly gesture are as profound as those of our adopted First Lady, the Statue of Liberty. The Tear Drop and the Russian people deserve, in spite of whatever else they are, a commensurate acknowledgment of this moving symbol of sympathy. It's a crime that even three years later the Russian's simpatico for our losses has not been widely recognized by America and her leaders.
READ MORE
If you have tears, prepare to shed them now- William Shakespeare
No comments:
Post a Comment