Nine flags are hanging down

With the sounds of the Concoran Bell Tower in the background, a Monday morning turns into the afternoon. With a phone in hand, a backpack hanging low, and sunglasses to complete the look, a student walks from the Professor's Gate toward Kogan Plaza. She does not seem to register the artworks to her right, the fountain to her left, or the tempietto in front of her, let alone anything else. A guy walking in the opposite direction looks around as he struts by, jacket in his hand. He notices the two signs and the floral wrath accompanying the small flags. Another student walks towards the gate with two coffees and looks the other way, not registering the flags but giving a quick side-eye to a girl sitting behind a table filled with flyers, candy, and a QR code. The next student walking by smiles at the girl, who looks up at him from behind her laptop. The memorial in front of her table is symmetrical between two small trees and white, red, and blueish-purple flowers match the flags and the signs. However, she is mainly paying attention to her engineering homework. 

 

More students pass by, but none look up for over three seconds. They are all lost in their phones or their thoughts. None of them look up long enough to read that the signs encourage them to ‘Pause,’ which they do not, and then ‘Reflect.’ The few people who stop walking, stop at the table instead of the memorial. Not all are interested in learning about the Welcome Day of Service the girl promotes; some just want to grab the Hershey’s, M&M’s, and Reese’s lying on the table, melting in the sun.

 

After forty minutes, four students do pause. They read the text ‘Remember 9/11’ and learn that the nine flags are there to remember the nine GW alumni among the 2,996 individuals who died exactly 22 years ago. One of the guys speaks up: “People don’t even remember what this all is about.” They look at the signs that do not only show text but also illustrate a black New York skyline with two red buildings representing the World Trade Center. “Well, some of these students were born after 2005…” In silence, the four of them read about the deadliest terrorist attacks in American History in 2001. “Most students weren’t even born back then.” one of the students concludes before continuing their walk towards Professor’s Gate.

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