The Memorial Student Union at the University of Missouri is a landmark for students who lost their lives in the wars of our country’s past. Massive tragedy never fades and reverence should always remain.
Lose the hat. Lower your voice. Honor your fellow tiger.
I sat in the basement of a church at pre school, my mother sat in a doctor’s office, and my brother sat at home. Just downtown from us, my father sat in his office. My father was hosting clients from outside of New York City, and as they commenced their meeting, he recalls the moment vividly. One minute they were discussing their business endeavors, and the next the ground began to shake as what my father describes as the loudest noise he has ever heard occurred from just two blocks away. The windows went black like the sun had burned out. Two planes had crashed into the Twin Towers, destroying everything in their wake. When the dust had finally settled, my dad and his clients wrapped up and walked 100 blocks home amongst thousands of their fellow New Yorkers evacuating downtown Manhattan. Later that night, my family and I watched outside as tanks and the armed military filled the streets that I had played on carefree just earlier that morning. It was the apocalypse in my four year old mind. I grew up in a community that knew much too well the pain of massive tragedy. Consequently, I grew up with respect and reverence for those that lost their lives, and an appreciation for my own. Every New Yorker has their own story of September 11th 2001: where they were, what they were doing, who they lost…16 years and that has not changed, nor has the pain dulled on that dark anniversary each year. 100 years from now or 200 years from now, New Yorkers will revere September 11th of each year as a day of reverence, as well as the Memorial everyday as a physical manifestation of grief and remembrance.
In such a similar way, amongst every other American across the nation and other countries alike, the University of Missouri learned the pain of massive tragedy in the wake of World War I, and later on in the wake of World War II. Mizzou lost 445 students collectively in these two wars. In memoriam stands the Memorial Student Union and archway, with the names of the lives lost in World War I inscribed in the archway, and the names of the lives lost in World War II inscribed in the North Wing. Also located in the North Wing is the names of the students who have died for this country since 1990.
Tradition holds that the students of the University of Missouri, and at that anyone who passes by, should remove their hat and speak in hushed tones when walking under the archway. When I walk through the archway into the doors of Memorial Student Union, I rarely see this being observed, and my heart breaks every time. Here is why yours should too.
Memorial Student Union is absolutely rich with history. Every time we walk through the archway, we walk on the same ground that students for centuries before us have walked. The project to memorialize those who lost their lives in the war was initiated shortly after World War I. In fact, it was mid World War I when the students of Mizzou made the decision to come together as a union and pool their money together to begin construction for the towers themselves. Each student was asked to provide one hundred dollars as well as select groups of alumni. This was not built by anonymous donations or money that was held in the fund of the University, but rather by the pocket change in the wallets of students like us. In this way, Memorial was quite literally built on the backs of students who wanted to honor their late roommates, brothers, friends, boyfriends, peers and classmates. It took decades to build not for lack of interruptions. And, once it was finally up, gave Mizzou’s campus a way of forever holding in reverence the memory of it’s lost students. Much like the 9/11 memorial means everything to myself and my fellow New Yorkers whose grief remains fresh, this memorialization meant everything to the students whose loss was fresh for decades after the war.
I absolutely love my school. University of Missouri has changed my life in the most amazing of ways. What I would have to say I love the most about it is that I am one of 33,000 students that come from virtually every single walk of life. The one thing every single one of us has in common; however, is that we all have a burning and passionate love for the exact same place. 33,000 students of every race, religion, gender, sexuality, and background, and we all have Tiger blood running deep in our veins.
No amount of time should change the reverence for past students of the University of Missouri. Their Tiger blood ran as deep as ours does. In hundreds of years, I can only hope the 9/11 memorial stands still as a sobering reminder of my fellow New Yorkers who lost their lives, and that the reverence on that sacred ground never falters.
So, when you pass through the archway in the footsteps of our predecessors, lose the hat. Lower your voice. Honor your fellow Tiger.
