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In Memoriam, 2025
Guess now who holds thee?’—Death,’ I said. But there, — Elizabeth Barrett Browning The grieving angel that has been at the top of our memorial page for so many years is still grieving below. But she moved down to make way for a new spirit at Ground Zero. Perhaps, just as there are 24 hours between days, 24-year cycles are transitions to a new dawn in perception — leading to the sense of accomplishment we honor every 25th year. At least, that’s the way it feels. Issues are surfacing in a way that seems hopeful. Because there is so much to improve upon. What has been done to rebuild the World Trade Center falls far short of a true tribute to those who paid the ultimate price, their families, who still pay every day, and the ailing and fallen heroes who faced hell on earth to make a recovery possible. There could not be a greater contrast than between the way this nation honors the remains of its unknown soldiers and the dishonor inherently symbolized by placing the remains of the heroic and tragic victims of September 11, 2001, in the basement of the 9/11 Museum. Of course, that was not the intent, but it remains a fact. Symbols speak so much louder than words. The image above of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on the heights of Arlington Cemetery — which is linked to pictures of Tombs of the Unknown Soldier around the world — calls to us to bring the unidentified remains up to the Memorial level and place them in a noble tomb where their sacrifice can be honored until the day some of them can be returned to their families, while all may finally rest in peace. That is what many of the next-of-kin, expressing the wishes of most of the other victims’ families, have been demanding all along. It is insulting to the victims, their families, and the rule of American democracy, that these demands were snubbed. In fact, their input was disregarded from the start by the Bloomberg administration, which was only attentive to family members who agreed with them — while an air of grievance was generated against those who spoke out against the official plans. The unwritten agenda was to make the “campus” inoffensive for those they wanted to fill the new office towers. That may have been reasonable but not honorable. Putting reminders of as much of the past as possible underground subordinated the nation’s need for a noble and fitting memorial to the corporate bottom line. Even the names of the victims were meant to be seen through glass at the level of the pool floors until family members spent weeks of frigid overnights outside of the fire station across from Ground Zero in 2006, and officials finally relented. Mayor Bloomberg said that democracy “is a messy thing”. It is also really simple. The people vote and the votes are counted. But there was no voting at Ground Zero. As long as the remains are in the bottom of the museum, many 9/11 Families cannot begin to heal. What they have been put through is a stain on our nation. The history of the new World Trade Center is best defined by what the Twin Towers Alliance calls “The Swindle at Ground Zero”. The pain and suffering that has been inflicted on 9/11 family members by a cold, calculating bureaucracy is unconscionable. Please read the links that follow to get a better understanding of what is at stake. A new 9/11 Memorial and Museum are at the heart of “Phase Two: The Completion of the World Trade Center.” 9/11 families blast skyrocketing salaries of Sept. 11 CEO of 9/11 Memorial & Museum defends Victims’ families support Trump takeover of
60 Minutes | 3 New 9/11 Episodes 9/11-linked cancer skyrockets to nearly 50,000 How One Man Recreated New York City by Hand 9/11 Construction Workers, FDNY Victims Honored at Historic Church Selected Links from Earlier Memorial Pages Clydesdales’ Super Bowl Tribute This video was created soon after 9/11 and profoundly reflects the period. It was recorded to a song released by Irish musician Enya the year before. After the 9/11 attacks, “Only Time” was released as a radio remix and Enya donated the earnings from the sale of that single to the Widows’ and Children’s Fund of the Uniformed Firefighters Association. We recommend listening to it to the very end when the music finally stops. This is the “mega-episode” version of the exceptional six-part National Geographic documentary. It is such a reminder of what must never be forgotten.
Everybody knows whenever rain appears, it’s really angel tears. “Dirge Without Music” — Edna St. Vincent Millay I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground. Lovers and thinkers, into the earth with you. The answers quick and keen, the honest look, the laughter, the love, Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave Since 2005, we have included “Dirge Without Music” on our yearly memorial page because it conveys the enormous personal loss of September 11, 2001. At the Yankee Stadium Prayer Vigil on September 23rd, before the final death toll was known, Rabbi Marc Gellman put that grief into words this way:”On that day, six thousand people did not die. On that day, one person died six thousand times.“ Click on the angel to play the song that led directly to naming the restaurant “Windows on the World”. Click here for the story behind the “Angel of Grief Weeping Over the Dismantled Altar of Life.” Click here for the transcript of the Prayer Vigil at Yankee Stadium on September 23, 2001. |
