Declaring the footprints to be "hallowed ground" and not rebuilding there was a mistake.

We could've had a good and respectful memorial without setting aside that much space.

We were traumatized it made us short sighted. It's right for people who lost loved ones to have a place to remember them, but we did way too much. It's like leaving a wound open on purpose.

And because it's such a large civic space, and because it's in the middle of a bunch of many other commercial tourist attractions, those of us who still carry various levels of trauma because we were here and watched the towers fall with our own eyes or lost loved ones, we don't get to have the peaceful place to reflect that we should have.

The Vietnam Memorial in DC works because it sets itself apart as a special place, with a single purpose. It would've failed if it was surrounded by hustle and bustle on all sides.

I think it's still fair to be angry at disrespectful tourists, but it's important to understand that the way we as humans choose to make solemn spaces defines whether they succeed at what they were meant to do. Arad and Walker's design doesn't work. The committee that chose it made a mistake. It's understandable that this happened, because we as a city and a society weren't thinking clearly. We felt powerless, we felt like we needed to do something grand and monumental, and I suggest that maybe we didn't. Grief is not grand.