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I was there on 9-11.
I worked down there til Jan on recovery.
I lost over 50 dear friends and co-workers.
I now have a 30% Lung function loss and other medical issue due to the attack.
I do not think that a mosque belongs a block away from the World Trade Center siite.
Building a mosque at that site is disrespectful of all of the people who died there that day.
This is still the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.
See how you would feel if someone you love died there.
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I have the greatest respect for those that gave everything, and those like you who are still suffering.
You are absolutely entitled to your personal perspective. I have no doubts that it is strong and genuine, and I have empathy for your feelings. My issue is not with the personal feelings of individuals such as yourself. I understand how you would welcome support for your position, but I hope you feel as strongly as I do about the
shameless jackals who are taking advantage of the situation to further themselves politically.
However, I believe that your negative feelings towards the entirety of the Muslim faith are misplaced. Bin Laden and Al Qaeda brought the towers down, not the people who want to build the Community Center. If someone was suggesting a facility dedicated to the memory of the attackers, I would share your feelings 100%, but that is most definitely not the case. Instead, Bin Laden has to consider Park 51 a slap to HIS face, rejecting his fundamentalism and demonstrating that Islam can not only coexist with western civilization, but can be an integrated part of of it.
This situation has some similarities to the internment of Japanese-Americans at the start of WWII. People were outraged about Pearl Harbor. Completely innocent Japanese-Americans were subsequently made victims of the same event when they were stripped of their possessions and jailed. History reveals that the internment was one of the darker events in American history. Perhaps the that situation, over 60 years ago, will lend some historical perspective to the situation today. This IS still the land of the free and the home of the brave, and it is our dedication to the founding principles, even when it is most difficult, that make it so.
I know there is a lot of pressure on the Community Center to find a different location. Perhaps that will happen. If it does not, and the facility is built as planned, I hope that the healing begins soon. I wish you and your comrades well.