There's so much going on. Some of it matters, some of it doesn't. The pilgrimage to Becka on Saturday doesn't matter. The half-term governor's tweets to the senile old counselor don't matter. The incessant bleating from the right that "Obama's a socialist" and from the left that "Obama doesn't (fill in the blank) enough" don't matter.
That we're having smoke blown up our collective ass over an oil spill by a company that A) is England's biggest social security investment, and B) supplies fuel to our military all over the world should matter, but it doesn't really surprise me. ("Pssst. Obama. If you don't help us with this England's retirement system will collapse, and you won't get fuel for your ships." "I'll see what I can do.") Getting all but <50K troops out of Iraq should matter, but since Fox only gave the story 7 minutes of coverage and all the other networks follow Fox's lead, well, so what? It's not like "the left" won't reply with "Yeah, but we're still in AFGHANISTAN!" Twenty first century America is "too sophisticated" to be impressed by anything other than parlor tricks; "pull a damned rabbit out of your hat or don't bother me!"</p>
You'd think that the cat food commission is preparing to give "the powers that be" cover for gutting social security for everyone under 58 would matter. That matters to me. A LOT! It seems like we could do a lot more constructive things than have a national argument about where someone can or can't build something in NYC. Ummm...isn't it up to NYC?
But maybe that's just me.
Anyhoo, I should tell this story.
We moved to the east coast, specifically near Philly, a few months before the attack on the WTC, the pentagon, and another site we can never be certain of but probably the capital. We had a badass big screen in our conference room at work. It must have been 6' diagonal. I watched the towers fall from there. As the first tower fell, I remember saying out loud that "Bin Laden's gonna pay for this". So if anyone "questions" whether or not bin Laden was behind it, I really do think you're an idiot. But I digress.
In that conference room, some of my co-workers were crying (I remember one saying her dad lived/worked 2 blocks away), some were panicking ("My wife's in one of the buildings in downtown Philly that's being evacuated!"), others really didn't know what to say. We got a call from the owner of the company, who was already grounded in Europe, "go home to your loved ones, come back tomorrow". (He was an "evil billionaire" who drove a van with me and a bunch of other people to Eagles games to watch from his private box, merrily saying "we're good at work, but here we can say 'fuck'." and gave everyone a wreath on Christmas, even though he was an "evil Jew". But, I digress, again.)
I'm a smoker. I remember the next few days, standing outside to have a cigarette, being totally creeped out by the lack of air traffic. ESPECIALLY when I'd think I heard a plane. I probably did. The military wasn't grounded. But, who knows?
Dammit, I'm still not to the story. OK, here goes.
My wife and I hadn't been on the east coast long, yet. We wanted to go to NYC for a whole lot of reasons, not just to go to "ground zero". So, we finally drove up. Met a friend in Jersey City, parked in front of her apartment, there, and walked to the PATH station a block or so away. ("Are you sure you want to leave your car here? Well, don't leave anything of value in it" didn't do wonders for my peace of mind, but nothing ever happened. She didn't drive. Maybe she really was too paranoid. Oh, man, I'm digressing, again. Lemme get back to it.)
So, we go into the city. My Jersey City friend is glad to serve as our guide. Riding the PATH in, she re-told the story of being on the last PATH train into the WTC, that day. When she got on, life was normal. After passing under the river, getting off the train in basement of the WTC, and walking outside she saw the burning hole in the side of the building. She worked a couple of blocks away, and decided to walk underground (through the subway stations) instead of take the sidewalk. When she came back up by her workplace, the second plane had hit. There was "shrapnel" all down the route she would have walked. Of course, she'll never know, but she's pretty sure if she'd been on the sidewalk she could have been killed. She watched the rest from the roof of the building where she worked. Sent me some pictures no one else has ever seen, as far as I know.
I've been to NYC many times, since, so I can't honestly recall everything we did that day. Times Square, I suppose. I know we had lunch at the (no longer there) Greenwich Village Brewing Company. I have the shirt on, right now. (Digression, I know...I'll get to it.)
OK, here's where I get to the point. We finally decided to head down to "ground zero" and look around. Getting close on the subway was easy enough, but once we came back above ground we had no clue which way to go. So, my sweet wife stopped a guy on the street.
"Can you tell us how to get to ground zero?"
Now, I need to interject here that I've been to NYC a lot, and the people there are EXTREMELY friendly and helpful. It may occasionally be true that they're in a hurry and "curt", but you never get the feeling they mind helping you. The guy she asked for directions was NO DIFFERENT in how he responded, with one exception.
"What we call the former world trade center site is 2 blocks that way."
Very pointed. "Glad you're here, but don't call it that."
There was a long ramp to view the pit. Boarded up buildings lined the way to it. People had hung signs all over them, looking for loved ones. "Have you seen..." with a picture. The tragedy kind of hit, then. Still-living people desperately looking for lost loved ones. The cop regulating "traffic" up and down the ramp was going to close it for the day, but overheard me saying "we came all the way from PA" and let us through. Like I said, New Yorkers are nothing if not friendly.
We viewed "the holy site" ourselves. Most of the metal had been hauled away, by then, but of course we saw the (bogus) "cross" that someone left in the rubble. (Gee, what are the odds that a 100+ story square building might leave one cross-joint in the rubble after it falls?) My absolutely honest impression was, it looked like any other (big) construction site.
If there were any bodies in this "cemetery", there were one hell of a lot of huge dump trucks driving over them. Cranes, too.
Next, we walked over to the church ACROSS THE STREET from the site. More "Have you seen..." signs on the wrought iron fence, there. What amazed everyone, even me, was that this church wasn't even touched by the carnage. Even the lawn was still green. Of course, as far as that goes, the building next door wasn't touched, either. This was no "supernatural intervention". Just crazy good luck.
The legality of it is clear; we don't prohibit people from practicing their religion (or lack of religion) in America. Legally, anyone who respects the constitution of the United States should support anyone building a house of worship across the street from the former WTC site.
As far as the "yeah, but not here" argument, I don't much care if I'm the last person in American who feels this way, I believe the project, the YMIA (Young Men's/Women's Islamic Center, which is the closest to what it really is), the mosque, the cultural center, should be built at the planned site.
Luke:6:27-36
We need to heal this wound, not keep tearing the scab off.
The next time you start to wonder if the radio-talkers are right, remember the muslim soldiers, representing the United States of America in Iraq and Afghanistan, right now. They're not sitting on their asses making beaucoup bucks stirring up hatred in America.
Update: "When you're born you get a ticket to the freak show. When you're born in America, you get a front row seat!" - George Carlin