OCTOBER
30, 2005 --
Mayor
Bloomberg, last week, called for changes in Ground Zero development,
including housing construction. He was also reported to be
seeking the removal of Larry Silverstein, Ground Zero lessee.
LPR wonders if the future of Ground Zero remains unsettled because of concern,
if unexpressed publicly - that takes into
account the sentiment indicated in the accompanying photo, taken at the Ground
Zero fence, some time ago.
For LPR, the site where the World Trade Center was destroyed with the loss
of nearly 3,000 lives should be a place of decent respect, not development.
Yes, the country must move on -- but not
at this place of terrible loss and pain.
Limiting Ground Zero to hallowed purpose will not be a win for the murderers
responsible for our loss on September 11, 2001; rather it will emphasize that
our
sense of loss transcends mere commerce.
For this writer, if our action at Ground Zero takes into account any thought
of Bin Laden, he will have won. At Ground Zero, we should simply do what is
right.
One evening, just about four years ago, I was in the Oddo Print Shop in Torrington
when the mother of a 9-11 victim walked in to pick up the notices for her son's
memorial service. I never met him and,
although I attended the memorial service, I could not hear much of what was
said.
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LPR
snapped this photo at Ground Zero some time ago.
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But I feel
compelled, out of respect to this 9-11 victim, to say: this I
know: the place of his tragic death and those of thousands of
others should be respected as hallowed
ground, in perpetuity. And I believe this is the real reason we are not "moving
on" at Ground Zero.
How could we -- without disrespecting, even devaluing, the lives that were
mercilessly cut short September 11, 2001, and immediately made the site a hallowed
place.
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