Too Young To Remember 9-11

I received a very nice email from someone who read an earlier posting about the Mosque slated for downtown New York City near the Twin Towers site.

Basically, her concerns were as follows: She asked if I knew that there are two Mosques near ground zero. She said one is four blocks and the other six blocks away.

She also mentioned that the site is supposed to be a Community Center, and it is actually used as a Mosque now. “[T]hey are just expanding the building that’s all and I don’t know why people are making such a big deal about it. This is America where freedom of religion allows anyone to practice whatever religion they want and wherever they want.”

Most Americans appreciate that Muslims should have a place to worship. This is not the issue that upsets people. It’s the location that everyone is fighting. By the same token, do most Muslims appreciate what happened that day and the wounds it’s caused for most of us? Do they even care?

If you stand in front of the old Burlington Coat factory where the Mosque is to go, you can plainly see ground zero without bending or stretching to see it. It’s right there across the street and easy to see, it’s in an open area!

Can you understand the problem? This is where families and friends lost those close to them nine years ago. It’s hard enough to see a constant reminder that they pass by every day going to work, but another thing to see a Muslim Mosque in view of the site as they pass.

We still remember 3,000 innocent souls who were horrifically killed in the name of Allah; in the name of religion! It’s no wonder the same religion conjures up bad feelings now.

As it has been for me, the event left vivid memories in our minds that flash back when an incident occurs, or when smells and sounds remind us of that day. The terrorists may have succeeded in killing some of us but they didn’t kill our spirit.

Americans have lifted up each other to help ease the pain. Now we are asked by Muslims to forget and allow a reminder to be forced on us. It is ridiculous and insensitive or is there another motive (illustrated by the dedication date being 9-11-2011, our tenth anniversary).

Three buildings came down in front of our eyes, and then the Pentagon was hit shortly after. People were running for their lives. Body parts, fire, debris, and black smoke engulfed them as they ran for cover. It was frightening!

Later that same morning, another plane crashed in a Pennsylvania field. Some of the passengers fought back and prevented the hijackers from crashing into the Capital building.

We graphically witnessed people jumping out of windows from tall buildings because they were trapped and could not escape the burning fuel. Some of them who jumped were on fire, making the scene horrific.

Survivors were covered with ash and blackened. Some were hysterically crying and others were wandering around like zombies. I remember that day very clearly, a scene that’s not easy to forget.

I went into a bad depression after that, for fear of being attacked again and my family’s safety. It wasn’t long before lost my job because I could not function normally. I couldn’t even add up a deposit slip for the receipts we had that day.

It was very hard on me that day, even though I did not lose any one I knew. If you can’t understand this, you must be too young to remember or you didn’t live here in 2001.

Building a Mosque and Community Center at the old Burlington Coat Factory has created a problem that only Muslims can resolve with compassion and sensitivity. Is that possible? I’m not sure.

Is the Imam’s motives honest and sincere? Is his true goal to mend our differences and heal?  way to show 70% of Americans who oppose that they are serious in bridging the gap than to put the Mosque and Community Center some place else and further from ground zero?

Why does the Mosque HAVE to go there when other places are available? Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and his wife are saying “NO” they won’t consider moving. They are digging in their heels, even after the history has been explained to them.

It would seem that anyone who is really interested in healing the divisions between Muslims and the people, would not be so calloused when they know the story. This is why people don’t trust the motives behind building the Mosque/Community Center. Don’t these people understand that area is sacred and there bodies of loved ones buried there? How would they respond to the same situation if they walked in the shoes of family members and friends of 9-11?

According to my contact in Jerusalem, putting a Mosque so close to ground zero is a show of victory. He said they take over churches and replace them with Mosques to claim victory. Do you think this is innocent, or do you think people who oppose the Mosque are are bigots? I hope not.

I really hope you are not so calloused that you cannot appreciate the feelings of not only those who lost loved ones on 9/11 (with their bodies buried there) but also the feelings of us who were changed that day.