by Lionel Bascom — September 20th, 2007 — 1 comment
Larry McShane of the Associated Press reports today that “Almost everyone agrees Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad doesn’t belong at ground zero.”
Almost everyone?
McShane rightly asks “who gets access these days to the 16-acre pit where the World Trade Center once anchored the Manhattan skyline, a slice of the city that many regard as hallowed ground?
Construction workers. The families of victims. The occasional journalist. And not too many others, in stark contrast to the days immediately after Sept. 11 when the smoldering site was overrun with celebrities, politicians and even Playboy playmates.
Amid the chaos after the twin towers fell, rescue workers and cleanup crews mingled with a parade of well known visitors: Muhammad Ali, Robert De Niro, cast members from “The Sopranos,” Martha Stewart.
Miss America Katie Harman signed body ID tags for grateful workers. Boxing promoter Don King toured the site, as did U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and other world leaders. Almost half of the Senate arrived en masse.
The vast majority came to offer support and condolences, although critics suggested others viewed a trip to the devastation as a photo op.
“It was like you had celebrity status only if you got in at ground zero,” recalled Brian Jordan, a Franciscan priest who spent long hours in lower Manhattan in the weeks after two hijacked planes struck the towers.
Within a month, the city was turning down hundreds of requests to visit the site and began asking celebrities to avoid the area as the treacherous search for remains continued.”
Our tradedy has become everyone’s photo op …
10:43 PM in Uncategorized, World Trade Center, Ground Zero, The Attack, Related Stories, Freedom Tower News, Politics
We are living in the 21st century. It\’s about time that the consciousness of the world stepped out of this quagmire of egotism. Celebrities receive so much acclamation because those who haven\’t reached this pedestal of \’greatness\’ don\’t realize their own true gifts.
I suggest a new trend. Each person must spend at least an hour a day with cell phone off, tv off, computer off, and focus on his/her own breath, silently attending to the peace and beauty within, the dreams that need fulfilling. Listen to songs of the birds, whispers in the wind, stirring of the ocean, clicking and buzzing of insects, howling of a coyote, the sweet laughter of a child.
After this hour, each person picks up a pencil because sometimes, we make mistakes. This person then writes on a piece of paper how grateful she/he is for each unique quality and specifically writes how she/he will contribute today, right now, to enhance this world.
If each person did this, celebrities\’ lives would become irrelevant. They would actually have to find something productive to do besides standing in front of a camera at sacred ground. They would have to shed their shells of superficiality and open their hearts with the tens of thousands of lives who have endured the struggles of love lost and reality gained.
Jeanne · September 21st, 2007 at 6:23 am