August 01, 2007

Life goes on....

I've read reports of a big feud going on between the Sept 11 families and NYC officials over the ground zero property. Each year, the victims' families converge on the site of the 9/11 tragedy to mourn the lose of their loved ones. City officials, however, have said that with ongoing construction projects under way the site is no longer safe for the annual memorial..... instead suggesting a nearby park. The family groups are furious and are threatening to sue the city over the matter.

"Ground Zero is the graveyard for many of the people who died, so it is the obvious place to mourn them," said Jim McCaffrey, a firefighter who lost his brother-in-law, Orio Palmer, in the hijacked plane attacks on September 11, 2001."

My 2 Cents:
Ground zero is NOT a "graveyard" for anybody. It is the site of a terrible attack. People die everyday and we can't put up memorials or make shrines in every public place were tragedy has occurred. Cemeteries are set up for this purpose. They are set up for people to mourn the dead....even in cases were bodies can't be recovered. I'm all for making a nice little 9/11 garden or memorial somewhere that these people can go to since it was such a big part of our nation's history, but for them to claim that they have rites to that property is just silly.

On a similar note, I get tired of seeing shrines to deceased drivers scattered across the roadways. Yes, people die everyday on the streets.... that doesn't mean that we need wreaths, crosses, flowers, etc.... set up for years at each intersection to remember them. These are public places and life goes on.

3 comments:

Iris Blue said...

I agree. We have a permanent shrine for Shawn DeAngelo on the way to Douglas HS It has flowers, a cross, and a little fence. They don't even allow that in cemeteries yet the city has to mow around this shrine to someone who didn't do anything to deserve a shrine except get killed.

Someone has probably died everywhere at one time or another. (That doesn't come out right), but people need to move on and let the living use the space.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Penguin and Iris. Why liter the highway with white crosses. The bodies aren't there. And even if the remains were still there, if a place is someone elses private property you can't just think you have a right to go there and have big mourning sessions.

underwear ninja said...

the wtc site is NOT a graveyard.
those people have no right to buff up against construction workers.
i feel for their tragic loss but they need to get over themselves