Friday, October 20, 2006

The Neverending Tragedy Of Ground Zero

As many of you have heard, yesterday a grizzly discovery was made at the World Trade Center site, as about a dozen human remains and two wallets of 9/11 victims were found by construction workers who were tearing up a temporary roadway.

No explanation could be given as to how this could have happened.

When news like this comes out, it just goes right through me. It makes me wonder if my lost friend, who was never found or identified, was part of that find. And it affects and re-opens wounds for all other family members of WTC victims who weren't found when news like this breaks.

Family groups have been rightly demanding that their be an investigation into the failure to not collect all the remains at the site. A meeting was held today, and the city promised to more closely examine and re-examine many areas where the human remains turned up in.

I also heard a short while ago that even more remains were discovered today, and even one reportedly was found in a dumpster on the site.

It's been five long years, and these stories keep coming up. It's a tragedy that just doesn't seem to end. With rescue workers and other first responders turning up sick and dying for their service to help in the worst tragedy in American history, we will continue to hear more and more about this as the years go on.

I also read in today's NY Daily News that the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, Howard Lutnick, said he would donate $25 million to help build the World Trade Center Memorial under one condition: that the victims' names are grouped the way the families want them, by the companies they worked for, their office location and ages.

The current plan has the memorial listing the names in random order, to reflect the "haphazard brutality" of September 11. I certainly understand memorial architect Michael Arad's thinking, and I respect it. He's a good and honorable man, but in my own opinion, I am with the families and Howard Lutnick on this.

Many of the victims worked together, and died together, and I believe they should be remembered for all eternity together as well. I also favor the FDNY, NYPD and PAPD personnel being put together and their badges and insignias put on the memorial list as well. This has become a sharp point of contention with the 9/11 victims' families. Mr. Lutnick said he has spoke to hundreds of family members and they said they will support the memorial when all the issues surrounding it have been settled.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. It will take the wisdom of Solomon to get all of these issues resolved, and please everyone involved. The tragedy that is Ground Zero seems like it will just go on and on into the future. That 16-acre hole in the heart of Lower Manhattan continues to be an open wound for all New Yorkers, and especially for those people who suffered such a tragic loss on that terrible Tuesday morning.

6 comments:

Christine E. said...

Hey Q:

I am so sorry that your wounds are once again opened by this awfulness--I cannot believe that after 5 years, something like this can happen

I'm thinking of you..hang in there...

Be well...

Peter N said...

We hope that the open wound that is the World Trade Center, and I say IS because I can never put that sacred place in the past tense, has stopped shedding blood. But the bleeding, not in the physical sense, will NEVER stop. We're here with you Q. Always and forever. Peter

Michael Leggett said...

Q?

It was only a matter of time before more remains were found;

& the pain is still horrific after all these years, still fresh in memory, especially to those who lost loved ones;

& you lost a Beloved One, who I feel like I've known, as well, in these pages;

We stand by you!

BklynSoxFan said...

Thank you for your kind words and support, Christine, Peter and Michael. I really do appreciate it.

freethoughtguy said...

The sadness lingers on ... that's how we remember. We won't forget!

BklynSoxFan said...

Thanks for the nice words, Freethinker.