Today is a day of contemplation, a day to remember those we have lost, who we are and what we may become. More Art’s presentation of Krzysztof Wodiczko’s Abraham Lincoln: War Veteran Projection asks us to do just that. The work, now on display in New York’s Union Square Park (at 16th Street), is a 24-minute projection loop of war veterans expressing their feelings on the damaging effects of war. Faces, projected onto the statue of Abraham Lincoln, bring the spirit of this icon to life. And they speak:

I know a veteran that committed suicide because he had nobody to talk to. He couldn’t talk to anyone and he lived on the streets. He died alone.

It came from not being able to sleep for a day to an entire week.

The daydreams, they sneak up upon you.

I couldn’t live alone and at the same time I couldn’t live with anyone else.

When I came back, the worst thing that happened to me was the rejection of the people.

We can do so much more when we put the gun down.

Wake up, people! Help the veterans. Do something for the veterans. The installation, on display 6-10pm from now until December 9, is a great work of public art. Accessible, powerful and relevant, the work reaches deep inside the viewer and really does ask who are in this world today. Krzysztof Wodiczko should be thanked for this. More Art should be thanked for this. And most of all the veterans should be thanked for this.