Memorials are the way we make promises to the future about the past.
Alice Greenwald
Sarah Lawrence College Commencement 2007, 2007
这句语录背后的故事
Alice Greenwald, who at the time was serving as director of the World Trade Center Memorial Museum, delivered a thoughtful address at Sarah Lawrence College in 2007. Drawing on her experience designing the museum that would honor the victims of September 11th, she offered a profound reflection on the relationship between memory and responsibility. Greenwald argued that memorials are not simply monuments to grief—they are acts of moral commitment. By preserving the memory of what happened, we pledge to future generations that we will not allow the lessons of tragedy to be forgotten. This idea resonated powerfully with graduates who had grown up in the shadow of 9/11 and were entering a world still grappling with its aftermath.