9/11 Memorial Museum Officially Opens
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The 9/11 Memorial & Museum opens to the public tomorrow, but survivors, family members, and first responders were given early access to tour the facility.

One man shared his story about visiting the place where his sister died, and it is one of the most honest, moving, and brilliant things I've ever read.

 

9/11 Memorial Museum
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Many have expressed outrage at the museum's $24 admission price and presence of a gift shop, selling everything from earrings and stuffed animals to books and hoodies.

That's just one sentiment expressed by Buzzfeed's Steve Kandell, who calls it 'vulgarity with the noblest intentions.'

I think what really hit me though is when he speaks about how most people who visit this museum won't feel anything, which seems unfathomable, until you read his words.

I think now of every war memorial I ever yawned through on a class trip, how someone else’s past horror was my vacant diversion and maybe I learned something but I didn’t feel anything.

Everyone should have a museum dedicated to the worst day of their life and be forced to attend it with a bunch of tourists from Denmark. Annotated divorce papers blown up and mounted, interactive exhibits detailing how your mom’s last round of chemo didn’t take, souvenir T-shirts emblazoned with your best friend’s last words before the car crash. And you should have to see for yourself how little your pain matters to a family of five who need to get some food before the kids melt down. Or maybe worse, watch it be co-opted by people who want, for whatever reason, to feel that connection so acutely.'

It's so spot on. 9/11 is a historical event, but since most of us here at the Jersey Shore were so close to it, and remember it as if it happened yesterday, it doesn't feel like history yet.

It's a feeling of it being 'too soon' for people to visit this place and buy a commemorative mug. I didn't even know anyone in the towers, and I'm uncomfortable with that. I can't even imagine what it's like for this man.

I can only suggest you read his entire piece, "The Worst Day Of My Life Is Now New York’s Hottest Tourist Attraction.' You can find it HERE.

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