by Lionel Bascom — October 28th, 2006 — 1 comment
The University of Virginia campus newspaper wondered recently what has happened to that good old American know how when it comes to rebuilding the World Trade Center.
“When you look back at the attacks on Pearl Harbor before the United States entered the War, we see that the Japanese crippled the U.S.Navy. Subsequently, the Navy bounded back and either repaired the damaged ships and bases or built new ones with astonishing speed. In short, the United States’ industrial might was catalyzed tremendously from the catastrophic Japanese assault,”
Charles Lee wrote in The Cavalier Daily. “Curiously, the United States awesome resiliency in rebuilding is missing in New York City. The attacks on Pearl Harbor share more than just one resemblance with the attacks on Pearl Harbor: They were unprovoked and unexpected attacks on our homeland, and they were egregious acts of war.”
Lee is upset over the recent pronouncement that the recent discovery of human remains could possibly delay construction of the Freedom Tower. Lee noticed, as some of you might have too, the is no measurable progress in the construction of the tallest building in the world, let alone New York City.
Lee isn’t wrong in his comparison. As one of my students said recently, errecting the Freedom Tower is a modern marvel. What’s next, he asked, raising the Arizona? Its a good question, a very good question.
9:22 PM in Uncategorized, The Construction, World Trade Center, Ground Zero, Freedom Tower News, America at War
The ‘good ol’ American know how’ suffers from intermittent lapses of short term memory loss, something a generation experiences with the onset of middle age. Apathy runneth rampant in the heart of the youth in twenty-first century America. What is needed is a good, healthy dose of jazzed indignance.
I just returned from a neighborhood gathering where musicians from NYC played some beautiful jazz, and even I became jazzed enough to saunter up to the mic to sing with the hostess our version of ‘Twisted.’
That is precisely what has happened to this country since 9/11. We have become twisted in our reaction to this horrific event. Instead of organizing to help restore this country’s broken heart, we have gone over to a country and have broken theirs.
There exists a need for a rally to incite apathy into action, an American spirit that will take risks and respond to disenchantment with enlightenment.
Jeanne · October 29th, 2006 at 2:05 am