9/11 and Public History

As I browsed through the morning headlines on msn.com, I came across a photo essay by Newsweek, which commemorates the 9/11 attacks. It is a collection of photos that demonstrates how people around the globe are able to remember and grieve with pieces of steel beams from the towers.
While each memorial site established has an element of public history to it, I found one photo in particular especially oriented towards the involvement of individuals in their history. Number 17 shows a man signing a piece of beam that will be included in the official ground zero memorial. This beam is covered in people’s signatures, messages to lost loved ones, and numerous statements of rest in peace.

I find it hard to believe that this disaster took place seven years ago – in many ways, it seems like just yesterday. Like anyone else alive when it happened, I know exactly what I was doing when I received word. I remember the family members I was concerned about who lived and worked in the area. I remember wondering if immediately the United States would go to war, a war that Canada would find itself embroiled in. Being an American citizen, I worried that perhaps my older brothers would find themselves, while living in Canada and being equally Canadian citizens, drafted and forced to serve in an American war.

I also find it amazing the healing potential that these pieces of steel beam have. Sharing in the grief of that day is far more accessible given the transport of the beams across the world. Individuals with no personal connection can now have one, simply by visiting these various sites, that up until now I had no idea even existed.