Pentagon - 9/11 Memorial

The week leading up to Friday, 9/11/2009 was a little rough for me. I'm an emotional person, anyway, and (I'm sure I'm not alone in this) I always get very upset when I see things about 9/11/2001. I am also not one of those people who have forgotten... I think about those events almost every day and have a photograph of the Pentagon from 9/11/2006 (that I took when the lights were displayed from the center) hanging on my office wall.

I was given the task of making a slideshow that would be played at a memorial service. I was only given an idea of what the script should say... I had to find pictures of each crash site, music, and touch up the script. I did this all week... I looked at thousands of photos. I found some music. Looked at more photos and videos. And then I narrated the slideshow while trying not to let my voice crack with emotion.

By Friday afternoon, after the memorial service, I was pretty drained. I was mad, sad, gloomy... all kinds of emotions. Even so, I STILL had not been to the Pentagon 9/11 memorial since it opened, and since I hadn't taken any photos for quite some time, I decided to go down there. And I am so glad that I did.

By the time I left, I was calm and at peace. It is a very beautiful memorial. There are names inscribed on the seat ends of every single bench, with water trickling underneath. When you view the names, if the Pentagon is in your view beyond the bench (name is facing away from the Pentagon), then that person perished in the Pentagon. If the western sky is in the horizon (name faces towards the Pentagon), then that person was on the plane.

If you haven't been to see this memorial, then you MUST go. And you must spend some time there and sit on a bench... and reflect. And be thankful for every little thing you have.