I wonder...
Does anyone really remember September 11th? Has it been repeated so much that it's a cliche' now?
I remember. I was barely 11 years old and didn't really understand what was going on... At first I was more interested in looking for skyscrapers I recognized. Something just didn't make the connection in my brain that there were thousands of people in there, people who were jumping out the windows and climbing out the sides and waiting for heliocopters that never had time to come.
What really scared me the most was my Mom crying when the towers fell.
Then, the "mysterious black smoke" that reporters began to notice coming from the direction of the Pentagon. The awful gaping hole. Hearing all sorts of strange theories, like when a reporter on the ground saying he thought it was a Chinese military plane. Watching the tape playing over and over again of people running under yellow police tape, and the interview of a young woman covered in blood and ash. "I was lucky", she said.
We also started hearing about a flight that was down, but no one knew much. We were to find out more about it later.
About 40 ordinary people just like you and me. From 79 year-old Hilda Marcin, on the way to California to live with her daughter, to 20 year-old college junior Deora Bodley, returning home after visiting friends.
All were taken hostage by savage killers, intent on using the plane as a weapon, assumedly against the White House or Capitol. But these people didn't intend on going quietly... led by the Todd Beamer, they rushed the cockpit, overpowering, at least temporarily, the terrorists, and stopping their plan to wound America deeper.
But, of course, you already know that. You might be wondering why I have that picture on top of the post. And that's because of what you might not know.
This hallowed ground is doomed to be nuetralized, to be made a place of 'quiet reflection' instead of honor and outrage.
The winning design for the memorial strangely reminds me of the dropped "freedom center" planned in New York.
Set with a "Crescent(yes, it's really called that) of Embrace"(seen above) the plan also involves such things as wind chimes and is set with red(yes red) maples.
Well, while we're here, why don't we have a group hug, sing We are Family and head off to tolerance classes?
America doesn't need this. It's not "Let's Hug", it's "Let's Roll".
Please contact the National Park service. The only way I could find yet is through regular mail; here's the address:
National Park Service
109 West Main Street,
Suite 104
Somerset, PA
15501-2035
I'm working on finding the e-mail contacts.
posted by Rebekah @ 8:18 PM
