MARINA DEL REY, CA--New York City art historian Dr. Diane Durante believes that the proposed WTC memorial should celebrate a virtue shared by all those lost in that unforgettable place: productive ability.
      Dr. Durante, also a senior writer for the Ayn Rand Institute, notes that "the people who worked at the World Trade Center were all productive people: they were there to do a job and earn a living. They died because they symbolized that productivity, not just to millions around the world who aspire to live like Americans, but also to the terrorists who despise all that America stands for. The Towers, soaring above the greatest city of the most productive nation on earth, were a concrete symbol of man's rise from the cave to the skyscraper--with all that implies about our ability to think, to act, to create and produce wealth." She stresses that "a monument to productive ability would celebrate the lives these people lived, not the way they died. It would be a tribute to them, not to the despicable thugs who killed them."
      "What would be the best form of a memorial to productive ability?" asks Dr. Durante. Certainly not what is being proposed: "slabs of stone whose lines would correspond to the shadows cast by the Towers when they were attacked; a well 911 feet deep with two towers hovering above it; and a grass-covered mound 650 feet across." Dr. Durante believes an appropriate memorial would be "a sculpture incorporating one or more human figures, and the only appropriate setting for such a sculpture would be within a vibrant new business complex." The memorial should tell the world "we choose to defy the worshippers of death--and to celebrate life. We choose to erect a monument to the life-sustaining productivity of our family, friends, and colleagues, whose efforts we will continue; and to their lives, which we shall not forget."

ARI executive director Dr. Yaron Brook is available for interviews on this topic.