The 9/11 Tribute Museum has closed. This is a tragic loss for both the 9/11 community and for the world at large. The Trib was unique and one of a kind. The Trib was and is the true reflection and exploration of that day, the people, and the stories of September 11, 2001. The Trib is without a doubt the model for a volunteer organization.
This article in the NY Post gives a fair overview of the Museum and what happened. This quote says it all.
“We’re very proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish, but … the place for the 9/11 community to come is not here,” she said. “It’s a huge loss for those people who called this their second home, where they could come and share their story … There’s no museum that has the dual mission we have to support the community and also educate visitors that come here.” Jennifer Adams-Webb, co-founder of the museum and the CEO of the September 11th Families’ Association
Jennifer is absolutely correct, it is was a second home for all of us who volunteered there. I lived five blocks from the North Tower. I witnessed that day and all the days following. I volunteered at the Red Cross site on the Pile. All of that meant I could become a docent with the Trib. Docents volunteering at the Trib all had to be survivors, lost a loved one, first responders, recovery workers, or lived in the neighborhood. We all shared a common lived experience. We were a community and a family which made the Trib a one of kind. It was and still is people. Human stories.
The Trib was not a collection of things. Things from that day do tell a story. The viewer needs to absorb that thing in order to learn and appreciate its value and meaning. They have to work from their knowledge, context, and being to find meaning. That's only a partial understanding of 9/11 and one that is subject to variations of understanding. Our context shapes what we learn when we're not engaged with others. Engagement with others improves knowledge and understanding. Knowledge and meaning flow from one person to another. That has been the case since humans sat around fires sharing stories.
The Trib was people. Humans who survived a traumatic event. Who brought every smell, visual, every feeling, every sound, and every hurt of that day into their being for a life time. Docents at the Trib are the narrators of that day. Each docent has a perspective specific to where they were, what they did, what they experienced, and their personal connection to the site and others. Being on a tour with a Trib docent goes well beyond looking at a steel beam or the slurry wall. Docents reached into you with words and knowledge. They seed into each visitor a moment from that day. Our words fell over visitors like a gentle rain fall to be absorbed and placed within that person in their hearts and minds. And stored to be shared over and over. There is no imprinting from a thing. Yes a memory happens but not to the same degree the living words of another. A shared moment with another speaking to you as a valued new member of our community. All our visitors became part of the Trib community though their hearing our stories.
One other point I want to note about the Trib. The Trib community was just that a community. There was no hierarchy. Everyone there was there when Towers fell or after. Management was there that day. Management and staff were not degreed in non-profit. Everyone at the Trib were survivors, first hand witnesses, finding the dead, and grieving over the loss of a loved one. It was one community of shared experiences. Though each experience maybe different they orbited around that day. They WERE there. Management saw volunteer docents as family. Volunteers were not tools to keep visitors moving to the exits. We were people sharing with people.
Those voices who were there have time limit where eventually death will silence their narratives. Those voices can be heard in the 9/11 Tribute Museum YouTube Channel. Please visit and hear us. My personal 9/11 story is here.
That is so unusual for a volunteer to be one with the organization. Valued for their work. Valued as a community member. If you are a volunteer organization think about them as humans.