Today was a tougher 9-11 than usual for me, probably because I didn't go down to New York to Kevin's firehouse. I just felt out of sorts.
I did go to the Hyannis Firehouse where they had a Memorial Ceremony that was very nice.
It was good to be around firemen, and the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts were good. I was glad I went but it wasn't the same.
I think all the media buzz over the Mosque controversy doesn't help either. I am against the Mosque being built near the WTC site. I know that freedom of religion is a right in America, but I don't see it as a freedom of religion issue. In this country, we do not have the right to build whatever we want wherever we want. We have zoning laws, historic committees, neighborhood associations, etc. and hopefully common sense.
I think it compares to the controversy over the Catholic nuns putting a convent on the grounds of Auschwitz in the late 1980's. It just wasn't an appropriate location for it. It was sacred ground. A matter of respect. 
Another example would be when someone wanted to put a casino abutting the Gettysburg Battleground site. People didn't like that. It was not the right place to put it. 
Except for a few crazy people, no one is trying to stamp out Muslims or Mosques in New York City. 
There are about 25 thousand pieces of bodies that cannot be identified with today's technology. Those pieces are being kept with the hope that in the not too far future some or all of them can be identified. Those pieces are going to be stored somewhere in the new WTC Memorial area of the building. So for people like my family and the families of all the firemen on Kevin's truck who were never found that area is sacred ground. It's personal. In addition to my brother Kevin, my sister Kathy's husband lost his cousin, Patrick Brown, and my cousin Rose's husband lost his cousin, Eugene Whalen. 
An amusement park wouldn't be a great idea that close either.
If the intent of the Community Center/Mosque is really to foster good relations like they say it is, they have miserably failed already. 
My father turned 80 this year. He has not been back to the WTC site since he went down a week after it happened. (Yes, a week.) I think he would like a place to go where Kevin's name is acknowledged on a wall and what's left of him is safe. I hope it happens in his lifetime.The quilts pictured were made after 9/11 and given to members of my family. They were and continue to be a great comfort to us. The one pictured right above was made by lots of members of the Bayberry Guild and given to me. It's very special.
