A Clean Start
It’s all clean now.
The thousands of tons of debris are gone. The miles of blinding, choking smoke and ash have been blown or washed away. The blood stained streets and human remains of those who chose to leap from burning and smoke filled offices have been removed and scrubbed clean. The stench of death and molten metal has drifted off into the ozone. The cards and posters desperately seeking the lost have come down and the tears of those not directly and intimately affected have dried.
New York’s infamous “Ground Zero” is a clean, bustling place now. The grass is growing, businesses are operating and New Yorkers hustle past the eternal flame and the remains of the golden globe that once graced the plaza at the World Trade Center.
It’s no wonder that the Muslim group planning their new mosque would pick this place. It’s a beautiful place.
Now.
But even though the site has been disinfected and bathed clean, the memory of what transpired there cannot be eradicated with some water and a little (or in this case a massive amount) of elbow grease.
As the anniversary for the life altering date of September 11, 2001 approaches TV programming is filled with news reels and personal retrospectives of that fateful day. It’s not comfortable to watch. The pain and fear re-grip you as you put yourself back in time and remember what it felt like on that day to have our country attacked and not knowing where the next plane would strike. I remember as clearly as if it were yesterday the pain, the sorrow, the fear, the outrage and knowing that life as we knew it was changed forever that day.
I watched the National Geographic special that focused on New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and the trials he faced during that day of unthinkable terror. New York was truly gifted to have such a man at the helm during this immeasurable tragedy.
But as I watched again as the flames grew to the point of bringing down the two iconic World Trade Towers in Manhattan I began to wonder, where were the Muslim groups then? As the dust settled and the flames died out there were huge groups of volunteers ready, willing and able to put their own lives on the line to attempt to save anybody that might have survived. Brave firefighters and police who had lost hundreds of their own frantically searched through the dangerous and toxic wreckage in the hopes of finding a glimmer of life. Church groups, aid workers, civic clubs, businesses all pitched in and sent manpower to do whatever was needed. Even of that only meant a shoulder to cry on or a hot cup of coffee. But where were the Muslim groups? And more importantly, where was this Muslim group that now is petitioning to build a 13 story mosque and Muslim learning center in the shadow of ground zero?
I am not suggesting that no Muslims were there lending a hand. I have no idea if there were or how many there were or what sect or mosque they belonged to. But as a group, the only activity I recall any Muslim organization engaging in was a constant media barrage of how unfairly they were being treated in the aftermath.
But it’s clean now.
I do not question the constitutional right of any group to build any place of worship anywhere they chose. But building the planned Cordoba House mosque in what was once yards deep in the debris of a Muslim terrorist act is more than just building a place of religious significance. It is an act of building a place of historic and political significance.
Even the name Cordoba House is an intentional insult directed straight at the city and its people that this Muslim group now asks to be understanding of their religious freedom.
I suggest that rather than allowing the news media or inept brain trust in Washington DC to make this decision it be left up to those that survived the vicious attack and toiled to wash away the blood and debris. A simple vote with a simple ballot.
Do you agree that a Muslim mosque should be built on the grounds of the World Trade Center attack?
a. YES
b. NO
c. FUCK YOU
I know which one gets my vote.
9/11, Cordoba House
