The Making Of The 2011 September 11 National Medal

Has the public or collectors accepted the design yet? Have most sold?

Honestly, I think it's too soon for this. My sister nearly died that day (she worked close to the Pentagon and sometimes had business there) and for me, any time in my lifetime will be too soon to look at something "commemorating" that day and making me think once again about a phone call that ended "No, I was on the street, but there's a--*beeeeeee* All circuits are busy. Please try your call again later."

You know the thing statisticians say, that a generation can be defined by its great disaster ("Where were you when JFK was shot?" is the most common)? 9/11 is considered my generation's great disaster and to me, all this memorial stuff is well-meant but completely misses the point--for me it just brings up a dark and fear-filled day that to me always focuses around two twin things, my sister screaming "a plane just hit the Pentagon" and the voice of the local deejay that night when I flipped on the radio to try and get away from the news coverage and every time they finished a nine-song run (no advertising that night), all soft stuff like "Imagine," he would read the Lord's Prayer. I don't even want to watch this video. Give me fifty years and we'll talk.

I live in dc and did at the time of the attacks. My dad is military and the pentagon plane hit his old office. Hed been transferred out a couple months before the plane hit. Everyone from his old office died in the attack. My mom also works for the airlines.

People deal in tragedy different ways, but to me it should be talked about and we should have things for it. The second we stop remembering is when something that tradegy happens again from us falling asleep and forgetting there is evil in the world.

Commemorative or whatever name we want to call that coin, its just absolute garbage in my opinion. Something of that significance and tragic and thats the design they come up with? To me its almost a slap in the face to what happened that day. The coin should have been so much more. There were numerous directions the coin could have went in whether capturing the tragedy of the day, the heroism of the day, or even just a very powerful image like the flag flying over the wreckage.

Literally unlimited options to have made that one of the great coins of all time and fly off the shelves while raising a lot of great funds for the memorial. But instead we got that. It doesn't capture a single thing about that day or inspire in any way shape or form.

Sorry about the rant but I was honestly disgusted when I saw the design for this coin released. It just should have been so much more

Basebal, Celtic, my sister survived. She had friends--one of them with two babies who were in the WTC daycare--who weren't so lucky.

To me, it's tacky to sell anything related at this point--sort of the way I'd feel if they'd sold pieces of the Challenger (the "great disaster" of my sister's generation). Someone I know very proudly got this set of three commemorative plates that he was showing off and I didn't even pretend to be anything less than disgusted.

Call me a dirty socialist if you like, but some things should just be left alone, and honored in ways that don't involve money. Trying to add a monetary element is just tacky and demeaning.

ninamson, I have disagree 100%. Commemorating the tenth anniversary of the attack is perfectly fine. Crawling in a hole and forgetting about it and not acknowledging it cheapens the lives lost. As for the making money thing. Sorry, but NOTHING is free, and that is just fine. Its not like anyone is gouging for astronomical sums.

As for the medal itself, I ranted about it when they released the pics of the design. It is horrid beyond description. Everyone involved in that design should be drawn and quartered.

All of the preceding is just my opinion. I could be wrong. ;)

Basebal, smoke, I don't think we should pretend it didn't happen. I haven't been to the reflecting pools (the last time I was in NYC the site was still being graded out), but I think they're a wonderful memorial in that they both commemorate the lives lost and provide a place for people to leave pictures, mementos, etc. My issue with things like the "commemorative plates," coins, etc. and so on is that I feel like it's capitalizing on a tragedy* and in many cases, especially early cases, there is little or no record or accountability for where the money went. Remember: there are first responders still fighting for their lives because Congress voted against providing them with healthcare, and the money from early "commemorative" items apparently didn't make its way to them.

For me, there is no "tasteful" way to do this. I bought a paper last year for my niece's history book and cried at the cash register. I tried to apologise to the clerk and she said "No, it's okay" and then she also burst into tears. Her uncle worked at the Pentagon. My mom asked me to go with her when United 93 came out, and near the middle of the movie I quietly had a panic attack in my seat. "Never Forget?" Please, when I'm 80 years old and on my deathbed I'll be able to describe my heart stopping in my chest when the original location of the fourth plane was given as my best friend's hometown. There will never be a day I'm more than a heartbeat away from my sister's screams or that first video of some group singing and celebrating the deaths while I cleaned our living room because I was too afraid to sit still. My grandfather was in the Pacific Navy during Pearl Harbor, and he felt the same way about that tragedy--he wouldn't even discuss his friends who died that day.

I don't think it should be the subject of a "commemorative" whose only purpose is to make money. It just cheapens what happened.



*in a direct way. Obviously people are going to visit the reflection pools and dispense money in NYC while they're there, but they'd do that anywhere they traveled. I'm talking about the price you pay, directly, to own something.