Paul Herbert Simon (left), of New York City, and his brother Glenn Simon, of Tegucigalpa, Honduras

Paul Herbert Simon: We’re Penn State graduates. We went to the football game with Robert Korycansky [‘77] and his wife Sue. Robert took us to the labyrinth. I thought it was such an amazing monument to the tragedy. I live in New York City and I remember that day. It was an unbelievably insane day and it all came back as I walked that labyrinth. What a great metaphor for life, you don’t know when it’s going to end, you don’t know where it’s going to end; when you think you’re at the end, you’re not; when you think you’re going one way, you end up going another way. And you pass the names of the people who were killed on that day—it was just an unbelievable experience. It gives you a lot of time to think, which I think is a wonderful thing about the labyrinth, compared to a regular memorial. It keeps you in a whole emotional and mental mode of walking by the names, reflecting on the whole day, where your life has been since then, and where it’s going.

Glenn Simon: As I stepped on each stone I thought about each stone representing someone who was lost on September 11. This memorial goes to show that beauty can arise out of the darkest times in our lives. I also thought of my mother, who passed away a little over a year ago. I found myself thinking about my life as I walked around the labyrinth. And these stones represented all the decisions and changes in our lives. Lastly, we often find ourselves wanting to take “short cuts” in life and we lose important experiences and lessons that way. If I had walked directly to the center I would have missed the wisdom imposed on you when you walk through the labyrinth.