Memorial to World Trade Center
John and I had planed for a while to take a trip to Swansea, UK to visit John’s older sister Phyllis. Finally, we bought two tickets from Air India. We were scheduled to leave Newark, NJ on September 10, 2001. We always plan to stay more than three weeks vacation as we wanted to spend as much time with Phyllis as we can, since Mom, John’s mother passed away in summer 1994 and Phyllis was alone by herself. So we planed to stay with her until October 9, 2001, which was the day we returned home to Newark.
On September 10, 2001 I got up early to prepare for the trip with John. We took the Path from Penn station,Newark to World Trade Center, NYC at about 2:00 PM. After we got out from Path train we took the escalator and went up to the first floor Of WTC’s building passing a bank and shopping area to get to the NY subway that took us to Kennedy Airport. Every thing was nice and smooth. The weather was very good. People enjoyed walking, traveling to somewhere or shopping much like any other time that John and I came to NYC. Our plane took off at night. John enjoyed being on the plane, sipping a drink after a nice Indian curry meal on the flight. John was watching a movie while I tried to find the best position to sleep in until we landed at Heathrow Airport. It took about six hours. From Heathrow Airport we took the bus to Swansea where we had to sit for five hours. At about 3:00 PM we reached the bus stop in Swansea. A Taxi man drove us to Phyllis’ house for duration of about fifteen minutes.
“Do you know the World Trade Center collapsed?”
The taxi man asked us while he took our luggage out from the trunk.
“No! It is impossible. We just came from World Trade Center.”
We responded.
“Two planes hit the twin towers.”
The taxi man gave us more information.
After greeting Phyllis, we ran in the living room and turned on the TV and found out that there were noTwinTowers any more. We learned that the terrorists hijacked the airplanes and used planes as weapons to destroy the buildings and people on the plane and thousand more in the World Trade Center Towers. We also learned about the disasters in Washington DC and Pennsylvania.
We spent most of our trip, almost a month, watching the TV to find out about the news of WTC disaster. We were gathering news papers for more information also. We made a lot of phone calls to our daughter who was home in Newark.
John and I have many fond memories of WTC. We had to pass by WTC every time we took trips to NYC, especially when we went to Chinatown to buy Chinese food and grocery.
In 1975 I just started dating John. John helped me to frame my paintings for the exhibition in East River Saving Bank on the first floor of the WTC. My parents and family who came fromThailand to visit us in the US liked taking trips to World Trade Center. My parents were lucky enough to go up to the top of WTC to view NYC from the high distance.
After we came back home to Newark, NJ from Swansea, the first thing I wanted was to visit the remains of WTC to join others who felt the sadness from the loss of so many people. We also went to Jersey City by the peer at the bank of Hudson River opposite WTC to look at the empty spots where TwinTowers would have been. Our hearts ached and we were confused as to the cause of this destruction. We liked to bring friends and family to view the NY skyline and watch the 4th of July fire works by theHudson River with the WTC in the background.
I began doing the artwork relating to WTC, a few ceramic sculptures as a Memorial for theTwinTowers. I kept my artwork to myself. I showed them to only few people who were close to me. I did not want to provoke negative feelings or bad memories in others. I felt such sadness about this horrible event. It is the same sadness for any horrible event such as Holocausts, the nuclear bombs in Japan, the killing field in Cambodia, in Rwanda and other places in the world. We humans never learn to be civilized. We seem so quickly to forget the horrible events that took place and then bad things happen again. We kill each other directly and indirectly. The indirect actions of corruption, greed and power hunger cause direct action to surface. Innocent people will always end up suffering the effects. Hopefully we will be wiser and able to learn from past events and improve our human race to be able to live with each other in peaceful coexistence.
Ten years have past since the 9/11 events and I would like to share my artwork with others and express some of my thought on my Peace Project website.
Many thanks to my daughter and son-in-law who subscribe the website for me and my husband who has the patients to correct my writing.
The followings are the pictures of my sculptures I produced on March 16, 2002 I made especially as a memorial to theTwinTowers and the people who lost in these events:
The description of WTC memorial:
Two towers stand erect, supported by two long panels. Outside of two panels are animal designs in one side and the garden and plants on the other side. The long path between the two towers inside panels is blank spaces which can be the area that the loved ones or any ones express their thought in writing. And the corridor between two panels can be the place for children to play hide and seek.
I made this small scaleTwinTowers sculpture as a replica for loved ones or any ones who comes to mourn, let go of sadness and to remember the loss. I hope we can realize that we should enjoy and appreciate one and other while we are still alive.
Memorial to World Trade Center
Time to mourn
Time to cry
Wipe the sadness away
Time to remember
Time to live
Get up and go
Work awaits
I will go on
Remembering the past
With heavy heart
When you are apart
Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts, Sunday, September 11, 2011, 5:57 AM
Lost Hope
Little girl feels
Little girl hurts
To feel the pain so young
Her innocent lost
Even though it hasn’t begun
We all lost our innocent and freedom
Innocent of hoping working hard
We will be better some day
But freedom lost
Sudden someone comes
And take the hope away
Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts, Sunday, September 04, 2011, 9:45 PM
On Tuesday, September 11, 2001 a total of 343 firefighters died with thousand of innocent civilians in the World Trade Centerand other locations. Their lives were taken away by fanatic, brainwashed believers of a distorted version of their own religion. If the hijackers believe in humankind and nature they would not kill themselves and others. So, one should always learn to questions what one is told to believe.
I salute all the brave firefighters and others who risk their lives saving others. May peace be with the brave firefighters, all their families and the others.
Respectfully yours,
Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts, Friday, August 8, 2003
I wish it were!
Something that have wings
To save him
I love butterfly
Deep in my heart
I sent the butterfly
To catch him
Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts,Sunday, September 15,2002
Order from the Top
Sharp bayonet piercing on my back
As I am dying
Why do you kill me?
I don’t know you!
And you didn’t know me!
Oh! I forget
It’s an order from the top
If you didn’t kill me
I probably will kill you
Because I got order from the top also
Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts Sunday, 8.28.2011, 6:27 PM
Mother liberty holds the twin towers
Close to her heart
Protecting World Trade Center
With her believe
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Mother Liberty, do we still breathe free in this land of liberty?
Breathe free with fear for this event has come
Don’t shed your tears for this human race
The lesson learns might make us grow
Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts, Tuesday, August 30, 2011, 10:55 PM
What is the same and different between these two men?
One, they are both human beings
Two, they are both dead
Three, they are well known
Four, they both had a goal to be achieved
Five, one is nonviolent and other is violent
Six, one is spinning cotton on a wheel and other has a weapon
Seven, one is productive and other is destructive
Which do we prefer after we analyzing the lives of these two men?
History will record these two men’s actions when they were alive
I hope we can learn from these two people without vengeance and hatred
Let us teach our younger generations all over the world
To understand that we are all the same
If we harm others then we will harm ourselves in the end
Do not brainwash the youngsters!!!!!!!!!!!
Flowers from my little garden
Floating in the air
Let each beautiful one
Touching each soul
Seeing beautiful things
Rising to the sky
Just wait for a little while
I will be with you all
Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts, Monday, 9.13.2011, 1:20 PM
World Trade Center Remembered
World Trade Center falls
Becoming colorful TwinTowers
Teaching us
They are here
And they are gone
Thinking how good
When they are standing there
As we take things for granted
Even with the love ones
Or the cleaning workers
Or the others that faithfully
Do their jobs for everyone
World Trade Center
Becomes colorful
In our mind
I didn’t do anything
Why you hate me this much?
What did I do wrong?
Or did my fellow countrymen
Cause the trouble to the others
That I do not aware of?
These questions and thought
Become active
In my brain neurons
Start charging for reasons
Thanks to theTwinTowers
You make us think
I miss you
Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts Saturday, August 27, 2011, 3:40 PM
2 Responses to Remembering 9/11
- Chelsea M says:
September 19, 2011 at 10:47 am
I have to be honest I have not looked up images form the events of 911 in many years. It was in that time that I moved to NYC and I came to my new home while it was in a state of broken fear.
You have created some very powerful images, in particular I’m moved by the image of the flowers in the dust cloud and the collage work with the people’s silhouettes infront of the wreckage. Your poems are so simple but speak in such short lines of deep feeling. Its the way my mind tries to come to terms with the events, in little lines and snapshots of images. Thank you for sharing your work, on such a hard and painful subject. Perhaps through art we can come to terns and work through some of the emotions left to us from that day.
- ing says:
September 20, 2011 at 5:01 am
Hi Chelsea,
Thank you so much for your comments. It was painful having to remember the horrible day. I hope we can learn from the event and make sure that it will not happen again. But looking at the situation, a lot of human behavior and the turmoil all over the world right now, it will probably take quite a long while for the human race to reach maturity and act as a civilized society as a whole.
Take care,
Ing
Link to World Trade Center Under the Same Moon:
https://ingpeaceproject.com/remembering-911/world-trade-center-under-the-same-moon/