Leaving the fear behind

THE ACT of remembering September 11, 2001 is fraught with difficulty, both for survivors whose trauma lingers to this day and for the fortunate majority who will never know the stench of death which overcame that sunny morning in Lower Manhattan.

Even focusing on those two tall figureheads of New York’s World Trade Center neglects the 40 who died in Pennsylvania and the 184 who perished at the Pentagon. Memorialising all 2,977 in time for tomorrow’s 10-year anniversary was the unenviable task of London-born Israeli-American architect Michael Arad and his design team.

The name of each victim is inscribed on 16 bronze panels spread around two reflective pools which form the so-called footprints of the twin towers (see page 13), each name positioned tactfully and meaningfully — which is to say, not alphabetically. Relatives were consulted during the mind-boggling process and 1,200 requests were taken into account. Tomorrow it will be unveiled and kept alongside each other for posterity will be the names of office colleagues, families who sat together on the four crashed planes and firefighters who rushed to the scene together.