Aug. 27-28, 2005, weekend
August 27, 2005
Several weeks ago I wrote a column saying I agreed with a group called Take Back the Memorial, which says the 9/11 memorial at Ground Zero in New York should be about 9/11.
If that seems like an obvious conclusion, please be aware that planners of the memorial site (the photo here shows what it might look like eventually) want to include an International Freedom Center and other cultural institutions. The freedom center says it wants to use its display space to help people learn about the Holocaust and Jim Crow laws and lots of other things. Those are worthy subjects for museum and other space, but they don't belong at Ground Zero, where nearly 2,800 people, including my own nephew, died on Sept. 11, 2001.
Anyway, a couple of members of the Take Back the Memorial group recently visited little Anthony, Kan., which created its own 9/11 memorial. The first story to which I've linked you in this paragraph will describe how much they have appreciated what the people of Anthony have done and how the Ground Zero planners could learn some things by paying attention to Anthony.
The 9/11 attacks happened because of religion gone mad. What happened at the World Trade Center in 2001 -- and in 1993 -- is the story that needs to be told in memorial display space on the site. Thanks to the folks in Anthony for getting it right.
See my About page to find out how to read online what I've written for The Kansas City Star.
Today's religious holiday: Krishna Jayanti (Hindu).
As always you come up with very interesting ideas to share. I am a bit uneasy with calling the attack on the trade center "religeon gone mad". My Muslim friends from the mid east, point out that much behavior by Musims there is cultural and political.
Christians and Jews should not point figures - we have our share of sick fanatics.
Posted by: Ruth Stokes | August 28, 2005 at 06:39 PM