Maya Lin

When I went to Washington DC for the first time and saw the Vietnam War Memorial I felt different than I had the entire trip. There was just something about it, something so…personal. In the essay Making the Memorial, Maya Lin explains that she thought the actual name of a soldier that died or went missing in battle was most moving for a memorial. I find this perspective very similar to that of the one I (along with most of the class) had about the documentary Hearts and Minds. The actual footage seemed to make everyone realize just how real and horrific the Vietnam War was, and I think Maya Lin’s design of the Vietnam War Memorial does the same.
I thoroughly enjoyed this essay because Maya Lin firmly stayed separated from the political mess surrounding Vietnam and focused solely on the lives lost. “This apolitical approach became the essential aim of my design; I did not want to civilize war by glorifying it or by forgetting the sacrifices involved. The price of human life in war should always be remembered,” Maya explains. I believe Lin’s unconventional approach to creating the memorial was perfect because the Vietnam War was unlike any conflict the United States participated in until that time. A typical war memorial probably consists of a few statues of soldiers, an inspiring message, or maybe an American flag. However, none of these grab the emotions of its viewers like the Vietnam Memorial.
So why did it take so long for a memorial such as this one to exist in the United States? It is because we do not want to accept the truth. Think about how many discussions we have had in class where most of us agree a particular book or film was bias towards the US. If you recall, Jim Shepard believed movies like Saving Private Ryan left Americans feeling invulnerable because of its prideful story and ending. The same can be said about many memorials. The majority of them are beaming with pride and elegance. However, those same memorials probably do not cause people to cry when they view it. Many people did not want to accept the fact that we were not accomplishing much in Vietnam, just like they do not want to accept death, as Maya Lin points out in her essay. The Vietnam Memorial leaves its viewers with no choice but to accept death, which is what makes it so personal. I have been to the World War II memorial and I cannot remember exactly what my initial thoughts were, but I know I did not immediately think of all the lives lost in the war. Maya Lin created something that was real, and it is reality that hits us the hardest.