To the Families of the World Trade Center Attacks Who Are Pushing For the Memorial

Now before I say what I have to say, I would like to start out by saying that I feel for the families that have lost loved ones in the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001. I am in no way trying to be disrespectful by what I am about to say, and though I have not personally lost someone I knew or loved in the disaster, I still feel like I have lost my fellow New Yorkers, my fellow countrymen, and to me, these folks are in my heart just as they are in the hearts of those closest to them.

That said, I must say, however, that I have about HAD IT with the families of the WTC victims stalling the building of the new World Trade Center, just because they don't like the specifications of the memorial dedicated to those who have perished in the disaster. Well at this point, loved ones, you are no longer memorializing the people who have died, you are making this all about you, all about your own grief about losing your family and friends. What about the rest of us? Like I said, the WTC attacks have deeply scarred me in a way that I don't fully realise myself, but I feel the best way for closure - and many other New Yorkers will agree with me - is to have the building go back up. It will be six years this September since the tragedy, and still we are stuck on this same issue of the memorial and I just can't take it anymore. I want the building and the memorial to go up so I can move forward about it. The towers had been there my whole life and I frequented the Windows on the World bar, so the towers were a part of me. Not having anything there is just a stark reminder of the tragedy.

I think that you families somehow are feeling that going back and forth about the memorial is somehow paying homage to your loved ones, perhaps a few of you are hoping against hope that somehow it will bring the lost back to you. It is not. This memorial has become a political nightmare and in fact, making me resent the whole idea and just wishing that they scrap the whole project because I just can't take it anymore. I hate saying that, but this is what's happening to me, a staunch New Yorker!! I feel that the energy that you have put into fighting for the memorial you want could have been put to better use fundraising for the memorial you wanted to your exact specifications and have put it up a long time ago and the new building would already be there. That is if all of you could agree with each other on the issue of the memorial. Far be it from me to side with the fat bastard (my term for the rich business man, mostly the greedy ones), but let the owner put his building back up!! How did this become about you? There are people all over the world who are losing loved ones on a daily basis through war and terrorist attacks who KEEP GOING. They don't dwell on death the way we do and I think that's it's strange, but equally important that we realise that war has now come home and future wars will be fought in urban areas and we have to start coming to terms with that fact, especially if the president still insists on waging his war in Iraq. More terrorist action will happen here in the U.S. and more death and destruction will follow. The world is changing and we must pay homage to our loved one's by being strong.