UNWORTHY

Updated: 7/19/15 at 11:09 AM

This year marks the tenth Memorial Day since 2006, when Richard Hughes and Margaret Donovan spent most of the day going to firehouses and police stations all over Manhattan, sharing information on the newly formed Twin Towers Alliance and the belief that “It’s Not Too Late To Do The Right Thing — And Do The Thing Right!”

We still believe that. Now, so many years later, it no longer refers to the buildings, but to the principle. When the fireman who answered the door at the last firehouse we visited looked at our packet, he said that there was “nothing the guys would love more” than new twin towers. But he assumed, as most people did, that it was too late to do the right thing — too late to honor the will of the people.

And that is the story of the World Trade Center. It is clear, looking back, that anything could have happened if the people had demanded answers in 2006 — such as: Why was what a few politicians wanted all that mattered, while what “Half of New York” — and most of the country — and so many of those who suffered the most on 9/11 — wanted didn’t matter at all? And why were we stuck paying for the demoralizing “fix” at Ground Zero, while Larry Silverstein got to ride the gravy train?

Why did officials feel so free to ignore public opinion and how did they get away with it? We at the TTA won’t “move on” until the dysfunction that undermined the will of the people at Ground Zero is thoroughly investigated, understood, and corrected — because it is pervasive. Every four years electioneers promise that our country’s future will be at least as great as our past. But it won’t be as long as citizens tolerate the abuse of power by elected officials — and nowhere is the result of that abuse as stark as at the World Trade Center.

For years the TTA’s motto was “What the People Want — What New York Needs — What America Deserves.” It is now apparent that we got what we deserved — a skyline that isn’t even half of what it used to be, because Americans aren’t even half of what we used to be.

The Twin Towers Alliance is dedicated to exposing the swindle at Ground Zero, as well as the passivity that we need to face and challenge as a people, for as long as it takes. There is no expiration date on a scam. If we are ever again going to be worthy of all the unimaginable sacrifice that made our country great, we will not let officials ignore the popular will, and use the giant apparatus of the media to spread their half-truths and, too often, whole lies. Otherwise, who are we? The nobodies they think we are.

The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center

This is a good time and place to provide a link to a site we have been following for quite some time. The image above is one of the extraordinary photos that are posted regularly on “The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center” Facebook page. For the most part, the administrators keep grand-standers off the site and the focus where it belongs. The group’s description reads: “For anyone who believes that these were the greatest and most beautiful skyscrapers ever built.”

We thank the creator, administrators, and contributors to this wonderful, often amazing, site for making every day a Memorial Day.

Courage and Consequences — Posted following Memorial Day, 2006.